RememberStuff: a dyadic-focused technology to support persons with Alzheimer's disease in the community

Project Abstract An estimated 5.7 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia (ADRD) and one in ten people age 65 or older show symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. As ADRD progresses so does the level of dependency on others. As the disease progresses, higher levels of dependence in people with Alzheimer’s disease are associated with significantly increased burden and costs of informal care. Today, 41 percent of care support provided to older adults with ADRD is provided by family members, friends or other unpaid informal caregivers. Eperture, an Indiana-based woman-owned small business, is developing a technology known as RememberStuff® (R/S) that is designed to address many of the shortcomings seen in current solutions to serve ADRD patients and their caregivers on the market. R/S manages and supports common tasks of caregiving and keeps open the lines of communication between the patient-caregiver dyad. R/S is an in-home kiosk with customized hardware and software!(touch-screen computer screen with a camera) that enables secure (e.g. off line) bi-directional communications between caregivers and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. The overall goal of R/S technology is to work with the ADRD dyad to: 1) keep the person with ADRD as independent as possible for as long as possible, and 2) support that person’s caregiving network.!R/S has been designed from the ground up by a team with caregiving and technology experience to address the limitations and shortfalls of other caregiving options on the market. Once fully developed, R/S will also provide data and feedback for clinical and basic science researchers to gain a further understanding of the relationship between dementia patient needs and the burden of stress experienced by caregivers. In this STTR, Eperture and its research partners at Indiana University Center for Aging Research and technical partners will continue to develop and enhance the R/S technology to enhance its acceptance to the affected market. Specifically, the overall goal of Phase I is to demonstrate feasibility and usability of RememberStuff among the Alzheimer’s disease dyad. To achieve this goal, Eperture will complete the following Specific Aims: 1) Test the usability and acceptability of R/S among 25 dyads of older adults with ADRD and their primary caregiver; 2) Enhance R/S to include data collection and data visualization tools for both caregiver and patient; and, 3) Prioritize results of Aim 2 with the full team to identify both design and function (software and hardware) enhancements for resolution in the next R/S design iteration in preparation for the outcomes study (Phase II). At the end of Phase I, Eperture and its research partners will have demonstrated the usability of R/S among its target population. Phase II efforts will focus on updates and enhancements identified in Phase I and a larger scale study to determine the effectiveness of R/S on measurably reducing caregiver stress and helping older adults with ADRD maintain independence.Narrative Alzheimerandapos;s disease and related dementias (ADRD) is a major global health concern with huge implications for individuals and society. An estimated 5.7 million Americans have ADRD and 1 in 10 people ≥65 years of age show symptoms. Almost half of all individuals with ADRD are cared for by family members, friends or other unpaid informal and often untrained caregivers. This STTR will support the development of a tool to manage and support common tasks of caregiving and keeps open the lines of communication between the patient-caregiver dyad.