1 - (SYM 31) Enhancing Recall of Treatment Contents: Impact of Memory Support Strategies Among Individuals with and Without Mild Cognitive Impairment

Memory for treatment content is often poor. The Memory Support Intervention (MSI) was designed to address poor patient memory for treatment with the aim of improving patient outcomes (Harvey et al., 2014). The MSI consists of two strategy types: (1) constructive strategies, which encourage patients to generate new connections and ideas with the material, and (2) non-constructive strategies, which highlight or emphasize treatment content. Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) may be particularly vulnerable to poor memory for treatment content due to memory decline associated with the condition. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of these two different strategy types on memory recall in individuals with MCI, relative to a control group without MCI.

Participants were midlife adults either experiencing MCI (n = 30) or not (n = 30). Participants completed two sessions, where participants viewed modules from the Transdiagnostic Intervention for Sleep and Circadian Dysfunction (TSC, Harvey & Buysse, 2017). In each session, participants viewed two modules, receiving constructive support in one session and non-constructive support in the other, counterbalanced across participants. Memory for treatment content was assessed via free recall and was scored using a standardized coding matrix (Lee & Harvey, 2015). A hierarchical linear model was used to examine the effects of group (MCI vs. no-MCI) and Memory Support Type (Constructive vs. Non-Constructive) on recall of treatment points.

The analysis revealed a main effect of MCI group (b -0.43, p = 0.02), such that those in the MCI group recalled a significantly lower percentage of treatment points relative to the no-MCI group (M_Difference = 14.7%). A significant interaction between MCI group and Memory Support Type was also found (b -0.36, p = 0.02). Specifically, those in the MCI group recalled significantly fewer treatment points following constructive memory support relative to non-constructive support (M_D = 15.3%), whereas there was no difference between memory support type on recall in the no-MCI group (M_D = 5.7%).

Individuals experiencing MCI demonstrated poorer overall memory of content compared to the no-MCI group, which may impact treatment outcomes. Notably, constructive memory supports were found to be less effective than non-constructive for participants with MCI. This finding suggests that clinicians should prioritize non-constructive memory supports when treating patients with MCI to enhance memory retention for this group.