Back Onside protocol: A physical activity intervention to improve health outcomes in people who are unemployed or at risk of unemployment.

Given the effects of physical activity on people's mental and physical health, a better understanding is needed of how physical activity interventions may impact the health of people who are unemployed or at risk of unemployment. This has added urgency in the context of rising rates of poverty-related unemployment in the UK in 2022. The current paper details the protocol used in the evaluation of the Back Onside Programme; a community-based programme delivered by the Bradford Bulls Foundation in the Bradford District.

Genes Versus Lifestyles: Exploring Beliefs About the Determinants of Cognitive Ageing.

Genetic and lifestyle factors contribute to cognitive ageing. However, the extent to which the public attribute changes in thinking skills to either genetic or lifestyle factors is largely unknown. This may be important if it impacts engagement in activities deemed beneficial to thinking skills.

Measuring activity engagement in old age: An exploratory factor analysis.

A growing body of literature suggests that higher engagement in a range of activities can be beneficial for cognitive health in old age. Such studies typically rely on self-report questionnaires to assess level of engagement. These questionnaires are highly heterogeneous across studies, limiting generalisability.

Investigating associations between personality and the efficacy of interventions for cognitive ageing: A systematic review.

The personal and societal impact of age-related cognitive decline supports the development of effective interventions. While some strategies, such as cognitive training, exercise or socio-intellectual engagement, appear beneficial, few studies have examined the association between personality and intervention efficacy. A systematic review was therefore conducted to summarise and synthesise the literature regarding the influence of personality traits on the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for cognitive ageing.

A systematic literature review and meta-analysis of real-world interventions for cognitive ageing in healthy older adults.

Activities running in community-based-settings offer a method of delivering multimodal interventions to older adults beyond cognitive training programmes. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the impact of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of 'real-world' interventions on the cognitive abilities of healthy older adults. Database searches were performed between October 2016 and September 2018.

Older Adults Experiences of Learning to Use Tablet Computers: A Mixed Methods Study.

We wanted to understand older adults' experiences of learning how to use a tablet computer in the context of an intervention trial, including what they found helpful or unhelpful about the tablet training, to guide future intervention studies. Mixed methods study using questionnaire and focus group approaches. Forty-three participants aged between 65 and 76 years old from the "Tablet for Healthy Ageing" study (comprising 22 in the intervention group and 21 controls) completed a post-intervention tablet experience questionnaire.

People's Beliefs and Expectations About How Cognitive Skills Change with Age: Evidence From a U.K.-Wide Aging Survey.

Objective: We conducted a U.K.-wide survey to collect information on people's beliefs, fears, perceptions, and attitudes to cognitive aging.

Older Adults Perceptions of Technology and Barriers to Interacting with Tablet Computers: A Focus Group Study.

Background: New technologies provide opportunities for the delivery of broad, flexible interventions with older adults. Focus groups were conducted to: (1) understand older adults' familiarity with, and barriers to, interacting with new technologies and tablets; and (2) utilize user-engagement in refining an intervention protocol.

Methods: Eighteen older adults (65-76 years old; 83.

A Tablet for Healthy Ageing: The Effect of a Tablet Computer Training Intervention on Cognitive Abilities in Older Adults.

Objective: To test the efficacy of a tablet computer training intervention to improve cognitive abilities of older adults.

Design: Prospective randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Community-based aging intervention study, Edinburgh, UK.

Dual Task Performance May be a Better Measure of Cognitive Processing in Huntington's Disease than Traditional Attention Tests.

Background: Past research has found cancellation tasks to be reliable markers of cognitive decline in Huntington's disease (HD).

Objective: The aim of this study was to extend previous findings by adopting the use of a dual task paradigm that paired cancellation and auditory tasks.

Methods: We compared performance in 14 early stage HD participants and 14 healthy controls.

Dual task performance in Huntington's disease: A comparison of choice reaction time tasks.

Objective: This study investigated whether dual tasks make disproportionately high demands in Huntington's disease (HD) compared with controls, and also tested the Multiple Resources Theory.

Method: Thirteen HD participants and 13 controls completed 2 dual task sets that varied in difficulty and complexity: Set 1 paired simple choice reaction time (RT) with digit forward, and Set 2 paired complex choice RT with digit backward.

Results: We found that HD participants were overall slower; however, although they maintained similar levels of accuracy in the simple choice RT tasks with controls, their accuracy decreased in the complex choice RT tasks.

Effects of task difficulty during dual-task circle tracing in Huntington's disease.

Huntington's disease (HD) is associated with impairments in dual-task performance. Despite that, only a few studies have investigated dual-tasking in HD. We examined dual-task performance in 15 participants in the early stages of HD and 15 healthy controls.

Age and task difficulty differences in dual tasking using circle tracing and serial subtraction tasks.

The aim of this study was to investigate age-related differences in dual task performance by using an upper limb proprioceptive task. Twenty-eight younger (18-30 years) and 28 older (>60 years) healthy adults performed circle tracing and serial subtraction tasks separately and concurrently. The tasks had two levels of difficulty: easy and hard.

Dual task performance in normal aging: a comparison of choice reaction time tasks.

This study examined dual task performance in 28 younger (18-30 years) and 28 older (>60 years) adults using two sets of choice reaction time (RT) tasks paired with digit tasks. Set one paired simple choice RT with digit forward; set two paired complex choice RT with digit backward. Each task within each set had easy and hard conditions.