The objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a telehealth intervention intended to augment several factors related to brain health and cognition in Veterans with chronic multi-symptom illness. This pilot study innovatively merges with ongoing clinical practice at the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center to explore if utilizing new VA technologies and distance-bridging approaches can improve executive function by promoting health behaviors (e.g. physical activity and mindfulness meditation, called mental and physical training or MAP). Not only does this study intend to examine the feasibility of using these tools within the home setting and integrating these practices into the weekly lives of Veterans, but it also aims to determine the best way to provide this type of intervention by comparing a text-message based directed MAP (dMAP) arm to a self-guided MAP (sgMAP) arm. Understanding how much guidance to provide Veterans during their path towards recovery is important since we hope that this pilot study will offer not only evidence that these practices can be administered without supervision but also reveal that giving Veterans the right tools (exercise and meditation app on tablet), guidance (directed text message or holistic goals), and support (video-chat health coaching) can have measurable benefits on symptom severity and function.
The objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a telehealth intervention intended to augment several factors related to brain health and cognition in Veterans with chronic multi-symptom illness.