JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Despite the enormous number of assistive technologies (ATs) in dementia care, the management of challenging behavior (CB) of persons with dementia (PwD) by informal caregivers in home care is widely disregarded. The first-line strategies to manage CB is to support the understanding of the underlying causes of CB to formulate individualized non-pharmacological interventions. App- and sensor-based approaches combining multimodal sensors (actimetry and other modalities) and caregiver information are an innovative way to support the understanding of CB for family caregivers.

Objective:

The main objective of this paper is to describe the design of a feasibility study consisting of an outcome and a process evaluation of a newly developed app- and sensor-based intervention to manage CB of persons with dementia for family caregivers at home.

Methods:

In this feasibility study we perform an outcome and a process evaluation with a pre-post descriptive design over an 8-week intervention period. The Medical Research Council (MRC) framework guides the design of this feasibility study. The data on 20 dyads (primary caregiver & PwD) will be gathered through standardized questionnaires, protocols and log files as well as semi-structured qualitative interviews. The outcome measures (Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI), etc.) are analyzed by using descriptive statistics and statistical tests relevant to the individual assessments (e.g., χ2 test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). For the analysis of the process data the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) is used. Log files are analyzed by using descriptive statistics, protocols are analyzed by using documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews are analyzed deductively using content analysis.

Results:

The newly developed app- and sensor-based AT has been developed and will be evaluated in the first half of 2018. The recruitment of dyads started in September 2017 and is still ongoing. The data collection will be completed at the end of July 2018.

Conclusions:

This study is a protocol of a first feasibility study to encompass an outcome and process evaluation to assess a complex app- and sensor-based AT combining multimodal actimetry sensors for informal caregivers to manage the CB. The feasibility study will provide in-depth information about the study procedure and on how to optimize the design of the intervention and its delivery.