A Clinical Pilot Study of Spaced Retrieval Practice To Improve Health-Related Memory in Persons With HIV Disease

Objective: Spaced retrieval practice (SRP) is one of the most replicated and effective mnemonic strategies in the cognitive psychology literature, but its benefits have not yet been realized in healthcare settings. This study used a randomized, between-subjects design to examine the hypothesis that can SRP improve memory for health-related information among clinically-referred persons with HIV (PWH), who often have difficulty acquiring new health knowledge. Method: A consecutive series of 41 PWH referred to a county-funded neuropsychology clinic were enrolled. Participants were randomly assigned to learn four statements about the treatment of a mock health condition in either a massed study control condition (n=20) or an SRP condition (n=21) in which they received two distributed free recall training tests supplemented with self-generation for missed items. The primary outcome was participants’ free recall of the four treatment statements after a 20-min delay filled with non-verbal tests. Results: PWH participants in the SRP condition were four times more likely than controls to recall at least one treatment statement at the 20-minute delay. SRP was not related to post-test recognition or health-related decision-making performance, but was associated with moderately better self-efficacy for decision-making. Conclusions: Findings from this pilot study show the potential of SRP to improve learning and memory for health-related information among PWH in clinic.