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Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Aging

Date Submitted: Jun 28, 2024
Date Accepted: Apr 27, 2025

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

Enhancing Enrollment and Adherence in Long-Term Wearable Research on Dementia: Qualitative Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis

Peterson C, St. Louis RM, Flannagan CA

Enhancing Enrollment and Adherence in Long-Term Wearable Research on Dementia: Qualitative Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis

JMIR Aging 2025;8:e63768

DOI: 10.2196/63768

PMID: 40743521

PMCID: 12355143

Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.

Enhancing Enrollment and Adherence in Long-term Wearables Dementia Research: A Qualitative Synthesis from a Systematic Review

  • Colleen Peterson; 
  • RenĂ©e M. St. Louis; 
  • Carol A. Flannagan

ABSTRACT

Background:

With the rapid expansion of wearable technologies, there is increased interest in their utility for passive data collection applications in aging research. Wearables can be specifically beneficial to research featuring people with dementia and their families who have burdens that can make both study participation and reliable data collection more difficult, especially as dementia progresses. However, population-specific issues affecting the success of wearables for data collection can include remembering to wear a device, fluctuating acceptance of the device or study participation, and reliance on strained caregivers. Better understanding of how research with wearables can address these and other issues is necessary to enhance participant buy-in and sustained wearing for better quality dementia research.

Objective:

We undertook a systematic evaluation of contemporary wearables research to describe this population's wearables experiences, desired qualities, and protocol needs.

Methods:

We used the PRISMA 2020 guide to systematic reviews and searched three scholarly databases using medical subject heading (MeSH) terms for papers published since 2018 featuring the use or discussion of wearable devices for persons with dementia. We screened 1757 abstracts and retained 58 for full-text review.

Results:

We present synthesized preferences, barriers, and facilitators to wearables buy-in and adherence in dementia research. A total of 29 factors were categorized into four overarching categories aligned with study development: device selection, protocol considerations, enhancing recruitment, and promoting adherence.

Conclusions:

These findings inform researcher guidelines for wearable device selection and protocol design to enhance the utility of wearables in future longitudinal research featuring persons with dementia and their caregivers.


 Citation

Please cite as:

Peterson C, St. Louis RM, Flannagan CA

Enhancing Enrollment and Adherence in Long-Term Wearable Research on Dementia: Qualitative Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis

JMIR Aging 2025;8:e63768

DOI: 10.2196/63768

PMID: 40743521

PMCID: 12355143

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