Innovation Inspired by COVID: A Virtual Treatment Program for Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment at Mayo Clinic

Limited access to mental health and behavioral interventions is a public health issue that predated and is further worsened by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) social distancing restrictions. The Healthy Action to Benefit Independence and Thinking (HABIT) program is a cognitive rehabilitation and wellness program for patients with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and their partners that involves groups of up to 32 people (16 dyads) at a time. Thus, the public health recommendation to avoid groups at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic immediately impacted our ability to offer this treatment protocol. This brief report provides patient and partner satisfaction data as well as clinical outcomes with a virtual adaptation of the HABIT program developed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of their participation, patients who attended in-person sessions had an average age of 74.4 years and those who attended virtual sessions had an average age of 75.4 years (P=.60). Both groups had an average of 16.3 years of education (P=.95). Approximately half of the patients in both groups were male (30 of 57 [53%]), most were White (54 of 57 [95%]) and were accompanied to the program by a spouse (50 of 57 [88%]). Overall, patient and partner satisfaction with the HABIT program remained high, ranging from a mean score of 5.8 to 6.6 on a rating scale of 1 to 7 for patients and partners, and clinical outcomes remained consistent with our face-to-face formatting when compared with pre–COVID pandemic sessions. The most notable changes across both formats were improvements in patient anxiety (Cohen's d=0.25 face-to-face; d=0.39 virtual), partner anxiety (d=0.37 face-to-face; d=0.34 virtual), and partner depression (d=0.37 face-to-face; d=0.35 virtual). This preliminary program evaluation suggests that transitioning the HABIT program to virtual formatting provides high-quality care similar to our in-person care models. Ongoing program evaluation is planned as we continue using virtual treatment for safety. Even after COVID-19 pandemic public health restrictions are lifted, these findings will have continued relevance to ongoing demand for telehealth.