JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Racial/ethnic minority and immigrant caregivers of persons with dementia (PWD) experience high rates of psychosocial stress and adverse health outcomes. Few culturally tailored mHealth programs were designed for these vulnerable populations.

Objective:

This study reports the development of a culturally tailored mHealth program called Wellness Enhancement for Caregivers (WECARE) to improve caregiving skills, reduce distress, and improve psychosocial wellbeing of Chinese American family caregivers of PWD.

Methods:

The structure and curriculum of the WECARE program were first crafted based on existing evidence-based interventions for caregivers of PWD. Then, multimedia program components were developed using community-engaged user-centered design. A backend database that manages intervention delivery and tracks user engagement was also developed.

Results:

The resulting WECARE is a 7-week mHealth program delivered via WeChat, a social media app highly popular in Chinese Americans. By subscribing to the WECARE official account, participants can receive 6 interactive multimedia articles pushed to their WeChat accounts each week for 7 weeks. Participants also have the option of joining group-chats for peer support.

Conclusions:

The WECARE represents one of the first culturally tailored social media-based interventions for Chinese American caregivers of PWD. Cultural adaption and digitalization of evidence-based interventions as illustrated in the development of WECARE could be an effective approach to disseminate evidence-based programs in underserved populations.