Smart Healthcare Technology for Alzheimer's Caregiver Support
What You Need to Know Before You Apply
What is the purpose of this trial?
The purpose of this project is to develop a monitoring, modeling, and interactive recommendation solution (for caregivers) for in-home dementia patient care that focuses on caregiver-patient relationships. This includes monitoring for mood and stress and analyzing the significance of monitoring those attributes to dementia patient care and subsequent behavior dynamics between the patient and caregiver. In addition, novel and adaptive behavioral suggestions at the right moments aims at helping improve familial interactions related to caregiving, which over time should ameliorate the stressful effects of the patient's illness and reduce strain on caregivers. The technical solution consists of a core set of statistical learning based techniques for automated generation of specialized modules required by in-home dementia patient care. There are three main technical components in the solution. The first obtains textual content and prosody from voice and uses advanced machine learning techniques to create classification models. This approach not only monitors patients' behavior, but also caregivers', and infers the underlying dynamics of their interactions, such as changes in mood and stress. The second is the automated creation of classifiers and inference modules tailored to the particular patients and dementia conditions (such as different stages of dementia). The third is an adaptive recommendation system that closes the loop of an in-home behavior monitoring system.
Who Is on the Research Team?
Karen M Rose, PhD
Principal Investigator
Ohio State University
Are You a Good Fit for This Trial?
This trial is for men and women aged 60-90 with documented dementia, including Alzheimer's, who live at home and speak English. Caregivers must be over 21, living with the patient, not paid for their care work, have functioning home Wifi, and experience a certain level of stress as measured by a clinical checklist.Inclusion Criteria
Timeline for a Trial Participant
Screening
Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial
Monitoring and Modeling
In-home acoustic monitoring to classify mood and provide mindfulness-based stress reduction recommendations via a smartphone
Follow-up
Participants are monitored for changes in caregiver strain, emotional reactivity, and family functioning
What Are the Treatments Tested in This Trial?
Interventions
- Mood Monitoring and Behavioral Recommendation System
Find a Clinic Near You
Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?
Ohio State University
Lead Sponsor
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Collaborator
University of Virginia
Collaborator