Mindful Walking Program for Older African Americans

The goal of this clinical trial is to understand the beneficial role of mindful walking in sustaining cognitive health in African American older adults who have elevated risk of developing neuropsychological diseases. The main question it aims to answer is "Does a multi-session mindful walking intervention lead to promising signals of sustaining cognitive health in vulnerable AA older adults?" The researchers in this 2-arm randomized controlled trial will compare the mindful walking group with a delayed mindful walking to see if the intervention efficacy is observed at multiple follow-up period.

African American (AA) older adults in the U.S. are disproportionally impacted by ADRD compared to other races and ethnicities. Mindful walking integrates two potentially protective factors of ADRD by elevating mindfulness and physical activity (i.e., walking), resulting in a synergistic behavioral strategy that is feasible and safe for older adults. However, the efficacy of using this intervention for cognitive health outcomes has not been tested using experimental designs. This study is a community-based, mindful walking randomized controlled trial to examine its efficacy on cognitive and other health outcomes in ADRD at-risk, AA older adults. This study will recruit 114 older adults (ages 60+ years) with elevated risk of developing ADRD from the Midlands region of South Carolina. Older adults were randomly assigned to participate in 24 sessions of mindful walking or a delayed mindful walking group (n=57 in each group). The study outcomes include various key brain health determinants, including cognitive function, quality of life, psychological well-being, physical activity, mindfulness, sleep, and overall health status. Participants in both groups follow identical measurement protocol of at baseline, 12 weeks, 18 weeks, and 24 weeks. The outcome measures are administered in the lab and in everyday settings. This study will generate preliminary evidence regarding the effects of mindful walking on sustaining cognition health. It will also inform future large-scale effectiveness trials to validate our study findings. If successful, this mindful walking program can be scaled up as a low-cost and viable lifestyle strategy to promote healthy cognitive aging in diverse older adult populations, including those at greatest risk.