The "Let's Talk Tech" Tool to Support Decision Making About Technology Use

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Dementia, Mild; Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)

• Registration Number: NCT06817122
• Lead Sponsor: University of Washington

Brief Summary

The goal of this research is to educate people about different technologies to support care at home when someone is experiencing memory difficulties. "Let's Talk Tech" is a new tool to educate people about technologies commonly used to support care and monitor safety, and help families talk about their feelings about them to understand each other's perspectives. The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if "Let's Talk Tech" helps people feel more prepared to make decisions about technologies.

Researchers will compare Let's Talk Tech to usual care (no intervention) to see if Let's Talk Tech increases peoples' preparedness and confidence to make decisions about technologies.

Participants will:

* Use the Let's Talk Tech web application together with their study partner that takes up to an hour or do nothing.

* Complete three surveys. The second survey will be taken within 2 weeks of the first and the last survey will be taken 3 months after the first.

Detailed Description

The goal of this research is to help families understand digital health technology options to support dementia care at home so they can negotiate immediate decisions and future use in an informed way. This is a mechanism-focused trial of Let's Talk Tech (LTT), a single-use, self-administered intervention in the form of a web application. It targets education and interpersonal communication processes to enable informed decision making and planning for technology use that relieves care partners of the burden of making decisions without awareness of the person's preferences. Participants are people living with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (PLWD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and a care partner. The 120 enrolled dyads (60 per study group) will be randomly assigned to receive either the intervention or usual care control. The intervention is self-administered. All participants will complete measures at baseline, at post-test (2 weeks) and 3 months later. Aim 1 will test if LTT compared with usual care improves the hypothesized mechanisms of change that are care partners' technology awareness, understanding, communication satisfaction, and intention to honor the PLWD/MCI's preferences, as well as both care partner- and PLWD/MCI-reported dyadic alignment. Aim 2 will examine if and how those hypothesized mechanisms of change improve the post-test and 3-month primary outcomes of care partner preparedness and decisional conflict, and secondary outcomes of PLWD/MCI and care partner sharing of technology preferences beyond the dyad and their confidence that PLWD/MCI's preferences will be honored. Exploratory Aim 3 will examine how, with whom, and for what purpose dyad members share technology preferences and explore factors that vary for those who shared with providers vs. family/friends, with the hope of learning how to expand the reach of this intervention to activate dyads' entire care networks.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2025-01-03
• Status Verified: 2025-02
• Study Start: 2025-02-07
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-02-07
• Study First Posted: 2025-02-10
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-03-24
• Last Update Posted: 2025-03-25
• Primary Completion: 2026-04
• Study Completion: 2026-04

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 240

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

• None

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Preparedness to make technology decisions	baseline, 2-week post-test and 3 months	Participant rates on a 5-point Likert scale \[1="Strongly agree" to 5="Strongly disagree"\] how much they agree with the statement that they feel prepared to make decisions about technology use for their study partner.
Perception of PLWD/MCI's technology understanding	baseline and 2-week post-test	4 items assess care partner's perception of how well their study partner understands of each of 4 technologies featured in the intervention \[1="Not at all" to 5="Completely"\].
Dyadic alignment about technology use	baseline and 2-week post-test	Participant is asked how much they agree with their partner about using technologies to support their care \[1="Not at all" to 5="Completely"\].
Intention to honor preferences	baseline and 2-week post-test	Participant rates on a 5-point Likert scale \[1="Very likely" to 5="Very unlikely"\] how likely they are to honor their partner's preferences for how technology is used in their care.
Technology awareness	baseline and 2-week post-test	Participant rates on a 5-point Likert scale \[1="Very aware" to 5="Very unaware"\] how aware they are about technologies available to support their partner's care and safety.
Decisional Conflict Scale	baseline, 2-week post-test and 3 months	The Decisional Conflict Scale is a 16-item scale with 5 response categories \[0= "Strongly agree" to 4="Strongly disagree"\]. Higher scores reflect higher decisional conflict in decision making.
Technology understanding	baseline and 2-week post-test	4 items assess perceived understanding of each of 4 technologies featured in the intervention \[1="Not at all" to 5="Completely"\].
Satisfaction with dyadic communication about technology	baseline and 2-week post-test	Participant rates on a 5-point Likert scale \[1="Very satisfied" to 5="Very dissatisfied"\] how satisfied they are with their discussion with their study partner about using technology to support their care or safety.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Confidence preferences will be honored	baseline, 2-week post-test and 3 months	Participant rates on a 5-point Likert scale \[1=Strongly agree to 5=Strongly disagree\] about their belief the PLWD/MCI's choices about these technologies will be honored.
Shared technology preferences	baseline, 2-week post-test and 3 months	Participant answer yes or no if they have ever shared the PLWD/MCI's preferences about technologies to support their care with anyone else.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Washington; 🇺🇸 Seattle, Washington, United States