Chair to Prevent and Treat Pressure Injuries in Persons Living with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias

Project Summary/Abstract The goal of the proposed project is to develop an innovative chair built with a calibrated pressure-shifting programmable surface to prevent and/or treat pressure injuries in persons living with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia (ADRD). Persons living with moderate to severe ADRD, either in long-term care facilities or private homes, are at increased risk for the development of pressure injuries. Physical repositioning is the cornerstone of pressure injury prevention; however, there are barriers that limit its use among persons with ADRD. While active devices to spread or shift supportive pressure have been shown to have advantage over passive devices, the existing devices on the market have limited use due to cost, safety, patient discomfort, noise, and energy use. The proposed system would overcome these concerns and be suitable for widespread use in both homes and long-term care facilities for persons with ADRD. Testing in phase I will include both testing of the effectiveness of the chair in shifting pressure as well as acceptability and usability testing. The project team is uniquely suited to successfully carry out this research due to our unique combination of skills and abilities, which includes a history of developing product for injury prevention, age-related injury research, and research involving pressure injuries in dementia care, as well as experience in the conduct and analysis of qualitative research and multi-methods research.