Learning the Ropes Foundations: A pilot evaluation of a webinar for older adults at risk of dementia
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) affects 1 in 10 older adults and significantly increases risk of future dementia, a disease impacting over 63 million people worldwide. Despite the need for dementia prevention, resources to empower individuals with MCI and their families to manage cognitive challenges and promote brain health remain limited. The online Learning the Ropes Foundations webinar was developed to provide a free, accessible, evidence-based resource to delay or prevent progression from MCI to dementia. The webinar is available in English, French, and Spanish, with closed captions, transcripts, and handouts to ensure accessibility for diverse populations. METHODS: Between January and July 2024, approximately 1600 individuals viewed the Learning the Ropes Foundations webinar. Of these, 69 participants (42 identifying with MCI/cognitive decline and 27 family members/friends) completed a post-webinar survey evaluating its clarity, usability, and content. The survey included 5 Likert-scale questions regarding participants' level of agreement with applying information from the webinar to their everyday lives and recommending the webinar, as well as their motivation to adopt behaviour strategies from the webinar. The survey also included 3 open-ended questions regarding participants' overall experience with the webinar. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analyses. RESULTS: Of the respondents, 91% of individuals living with cognitive decline and 100% of family members/friends agreed they could apply the information to their everyday lives. Additionally, 93% of individuals with cognitive decline and 100% of family members/friends agreed they would recommend the webinar to others. Lastly, 91% of all participants were motivated to adopt at least one behaviour change related to using a memory organizer, participating in recreational activities, or practicing stress management techniques. Qualitative feedback emphasized the overall value of the webinar (e.g., "It gave me tips to help me hold on to my brain power."). CONCLUSIONS: The Learning the Ropes Foundations webinar has strong potential as an accessible, evidence-based resource for individuals living with cognitive decline and their families to manage cognitive challenges and promote brain health. The positive feedback demonstrates the webinar's potential as a scalable tool for improving quality of life, prolonging independence, and promoting aging in place.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.012 | 0.027 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.005 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".