Activites4Care: A Digital Platform to Enhance Caregiver Well-being by Providing Customized Activities that Improve Quality of Life for People Living with Dementia

PROJECT ABSTRACT A critical unmet need of >6 million people living with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and AD related dementias (AD/ADRD) is the lack of meaningful activities, a common concern of individuals and family caregivers. With disease progression, cognitive and functional decrements fundamentally alter a person’s ability to engage in activities which in turn results in negative sequelae including behavioral symptoms, poor quality of life, and increased healthcare utilization. In response, Plans4Care, Inc, a company dedicated to developing digital solutions to support caregivers and people living with dementia (PLWD), proposes a Fast-Track SBIR to build and test a new digital platform, Activities4Care. As pioneers in activity programs for PLWD, our team seeks to transform dementia care by bringing our evidentiary in-person protocols to a digital platform accessible via computer, tablet or smartphone. Our proposed platform will provide caregivers with detailed personalized, actionable instructions for using meaningful activities that our software (Company IP) dynamically adjusts based on caregiver inputs concerning PLWD cognitive/functional abilities, interests, and care context. The Specific Aims are as follows: Phase I - Aim 1: Develop a clickable prototype mapping 5 common activities to PLWD, caregiver, and environmental characteristics from which actionable, customized activity plans are generated. Phase I - Aim 2: Determine feasibility (caregiver can use platform to identify an activity, respond to brief evidence-based questions and review the generated activity plan); acceptability (appeal, appropriate- ness); and usability (ability to navigate) using validated survey measures with 25 diverse caregivers. Prototype testing will be followed by focus groups with the same 25 caregivers to obtain qualitative feedback and preferences for multi-media approaches to demonstrate best practices for implementing activities. At the conclusion of Phase I, quantitative milestones (go-no go) to transition to Phase II are: 1) 25 caregivers enrolled; 2) 75% complete assigned tasks: onboard, identify activity of interest, review an activity plan (feasibility); 3) 75% rate Activites4Care acceptable and 4) 75% rate navigation as easy (usability). Phase II - Aim 3: Incorporate Phase I prototype testing and qualitative feedback to complete build-out and integration of the platform. This aim will further develop our solution into a commercial product. Phase II - Aim 4: Conduct a two-group randomized, wait-list controlled trial (n=160) with research partners (University of Pennsylvania, Department of Veterans Affairs) to evaluate if: a) caregivers use Activities4Care to generate activity plans; b) caregiver confidence using activities improves, c) caregivers save time; d) caregiver well-being improves; and e) PLWD behavioral symptoms and acute care utilization are reduced. This aim will formally provide evidence for the benefits of Activities4Care. Conventional digital programs offer general tips for activity use; our solution customizes activity to abilities, interests, and other factors. The commercialization potential of an easy-to-use digital tool for customized activities is novel and offers an effective, scalable solution to a critical unmet need.