‘Small Steps’ towards improving 24-hour time-use behaviours to decrease the risk of dementia: protocol for a personalised, web-based randomised controlled trial in community-dwelling older adults

Introduction

Addressing physical inactivity is a promising dementia risk reduction strategy due to its direct benefits for brain health, and indirect benefits for other modifiable dementia risk factors. A potential limitation of previous interventions is that they often overlook how increasing physical activity affects other behaviours throughout the 24-hour day, such as sleep and sedentary behaviour, which are also important for brain health. Further, interventions are rarely tailored to the individual, considering their needs, preferences and constraints that may serve as barriers or facilitators to behaviour change. The current phase I randomised controlled trial, Small Steps , aims to investigate feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of a personalised 24-hr time-use intervention to improve lifestyle and cognitive health in older adults.

Methods and analysis

Participants aged ≥65 years from Adelaide, South Australia will be recruited and randomised to either the Extended or Condensed program. During the first 12 weeks, participants in the Extended program will use a tailored website to set personalised weekly goals to move towards their ‘optimal’ 24-hr day for brain health, facilitated by weekly website ‘check-ins’ and weekly phone calls with a research staff member. Participants randomised to the Condensed program will have access to the website educational resources only but will not undergo personalised goal setting or telephone calls. Following the introductory phase (first 12 weeks), phone calls will be gradually withdrawn for the Extended program. Primary (feasibility and acceptability) and secondary outcomes (changes in time use, cognitive function and behaviour change metrics) will be assessed 12, 24 and 36 weeks after the beginning of the intervention.

Conclusions

Given the major and growing financial and social burdens associated with dementia, if successful, this trial will be the first to facilitate effective knowledge translation and personalisation of 24-hr time-use intervention approaches for dementia risk-reduction.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethics approval has been obtained from the University of South Australia’s Human Research Ethics Committee (205989). Study findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal articles, conference presentations, media releases and community engagement.

Trial registration number

The clinical trial protocol was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (unique protocol ID: NCT06291909 ).

STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY

• The Small Steps study will investigate the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of a personalised 24-hour time-use intervention to improve lifestyle and cognitive health in 88 community-dwelling older adults.

• Participants randomised to the Extended program (intervention) will be supported to improve their physical activity, sleep and sedentary behaviour patterns for 12 weeks with weekly researcher phone calls and website check-ins.

• Intervention goals will be personalised to the individual based on their current time use, projected ‘optimal’ time use, and their preferences and constraints associated with 24-hr time use.

• The intervention was co-designed with a separate cohort of community-dwelling older adults and allied health professionals.

• Recruitment will be based on self-report physical activity levels, which may result in recruitment of participants who have underestimated their activity levels and limit the generalisability of the findings.