A Mobile Informatics Solution to Aid in Memory

Not Applicable

Completed

Brief Summary: The researchers propose to develop an informatics system to assist people with memory impairment. Persons with Memory Concern (PWMC) recognize the faces they see daily, such as a spouse or caregiver, but they may confuse visiting friends and grandchildren or they may not match names with faces well. The inability to remember names or relationships contributes to isolation and deeply affects their social lives. The proposed solution is a Smartwatch Reminder (SR) system to conspicuously provide this information to the PWMC when needed. The system will be evaluated on the target persons with memory concern population to measure engagement and improvements in social interactions and quality of life.

Detailed Description: This research will evaluate technology designed to improve the quality of life for persons with dementia through external aids to assist with remembering. The primary goal of the Smartwatch Reminder (SR) is to facilitate social interaction for Persons with Memory Concern (PWMC) by providing facial recognition of family, friends, and other key people. The SR will be evaluated using an embedded experimental mixed methods design that combines the collection and analysis of qualitative data within a traditional randomized controlled trial design. To do so, researchers will enroll 100 PWMC and their care partners to participate in initial, 3-month, and 6-month surveys. Half of the PWMCs will be randomly assigned to the intervention group (i.e. receive the SR) and the other half randomly assigned to the attention control group. Each participant will take part in the study for a total of 6 months. All study procedures and data analysis are anticipated to be completed within 24 months.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Intervention Group	Smartwatch Reminder (SR) system	The PWMC and Care partner in this group will receive the SR. The project will provide a smartwatch and smartphone for the dyads in the study. All others (family, friends, etc.) will be able to download a smartphone app from an online store. Instructional material will be created to show the suggested information that can be entered into the app. Care partners and PWMC are administered surveys at baseline, 3 months and 6 months following enrollment.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
PWMC Loneliness	3 months	Original three-item measure, including: * How often do you feel you lack companionship? * How often do you feel left out? * How often do you feel isolated from others? Scale range 3-9, higher scores indicate higher rates of social isolation.
PWMC Social Relationships and Social Support	3 months	The Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS) is a measure of social relationships and social support networks. We used the shortened 6-item scale to reduce test burden. The 6-item scale has a range of 0 - 30 with higher scores indicating more robust social networks / access to support.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
PWMC Physical and Mental Well-being	3 months	We used the Global Health Scale. This tool is designed to assess an individual's overall physical and mental wellbeing. The scale measures subjective health perceptions. Scale scores range from 0 - 100, with higher scores indicating higher rates of mental and physical well-being.