Recruiting

Connecting Today

Sponsor:

University of Alberta

Code:

NCT07182019

Conditions

Dementia in Nursing Home

Family

Remote Visits

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 65+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Connecting Today

Study Details

Brief summary:

The investigators developed Connecting Today, a feasible and highly acceptable remote visiting program that can support care home residents living with moderate to severe dementia to have video calls with their family members, friends, or care partners. The investigators will recruit 80 residents from 4 care homes, and their family members, friends, or care partners. All participants will be offered 60 minutes of Connecting Today per week for 6 weeks (in either the intervention group, or in the wait-list control group). An onsite care provider will be trained to tailor the video calls, and facilitate positive verbal and non-verbal engagement during the calls. The investigators will evaluate how Connecting Today affects outcomes for residents (quality of life, loneliness, and responsive behaviours) and their remote visitors (quality of life, loneliness, and social support). The investigators will assess how outcomes differ for men, women, and people with different perceptions and experiences of Connecting Today.

Conditions

Dementia in Nursing Home

Family

Remote Visits

Study ID

NCT07182019

Start date

Jun 9, 2026

Status verified date

Jun, 2026

Completion date

Sep 30, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Sep 30, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 65+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

Residents:

  • are at least 65 years old
  • are diagnosed with any type of dementia
  • have a Cognitive Performance Score (CPS) indicating moderate to severe impairment (CPS 3-6).
  • to participate, residents must also have people that self identify as a family member or friend of the person with dementia.

Remote visitors:

  • are people that self-identify as a family member or friend of the person with dementia
  • are people with whom the person with dementia desires contact
  • are 18 or older
  • understand and speak English.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • All remote visitors are required to understand and speak English as this is necessary for the facilitator to support the call and for data to be collected.

Study Design

Enrollment

320 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Supportive Care

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Intervention

The intervention group will receive the Connecting Today intervention for 6 weeks following T0 (i.e. the first outcome data collection period).

no intervention: Control

The control group will not receive the Connecting Today intervention after T0. They are a waitlist control, so will receive the Connecting Today intervention after T1 (i.e. after the second outcome data collection period). Data collection for outcome variables will be the same as participants in the intervention group. The only difference between groups is timing of the intervention.

Interventions

Connecting Today

Connecting today is a facilitated remote visiting program for people living with moderate to severe dementia in care homes. The program offers residents up to 60 minutes of scheduled contact with a family member, friend or volunteer by video call. An onsite facilitator supports the video calls which are delivered via ipad/zoom.

Primary outcome measure

  • Change in the Dementia Quality of Life Instrument (DEMQOL- proxy) total score. [ Time Frame: Baseline (T0), after 6 weeks of intervention delivery to the treatment group (T1), and after 6 weeks of intervention delivery to the control group (T2). ]
  • Change in the Dementia Quality of Life - Care Home Instrument (DEMQOL- CH) total score. [ Time Frame: Baseline (T0), after 6 weeks of intervention delivery to the treatment group (T1), and after 6 weeks of intervention delivery to the control group (T2). ]
  • Change in the the Quality of Life - Aged Care Consumers (QOL-ACC- proxy) total score. [ Time Frame: Baseline (T0), after 6 weeks of intervention delivery to the treatment group (T1), and after 6 weeks of intervention delivery to the control group (T2). ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Hannah O'Rourke, PhD

780-492-7961hannah.orourke@ualberta.ca

Jennifer Swindle, PhD

780-492-7080jennifer.swindle@ualberta.ca

Locations

University of Alberta

Recruiting

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2R3

Contacts

Hannah O'Rourke, PhD, RN

hannah.orourke@ualberta.ca

Jenny Swindle, BA, MA, PhD

jswindle@ualberta.ca

More Information

Sponsor

University of Alberta

Last update posted

Jul 1, 2026

Last verified

Jun, 2026

Keywords

  • Quality of life
  • Loneliness
  • Social support

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Alberta on 2026-07-01.