Development and Preliminary Effects of Smart Cloth Care System for Persons With Dementia

The purpose of this study is to develop and examine the preliminary effects of a smart cloth care system for facilitating family caregiving for persons with dementia in the home setting. A smart-care model, using smart clothing with a remote monitoring system, was developed to assist home-nursing care. Older persons with dementia are asked to wear a smart vest, which contained a coin-size monitor in a hidden inner pocket. Sensors are installed in bedrooms and living areas to receive signals from the smart clothing. Alarm at door, emergency button and smoke detector are also installed. The signals and emergency information are transmitted to the mobile phones of responsible home care nurses, who have downloaded an app to their phones. After the home care nurse receive a sensor signal, she would then give feedback to family caregivers about the care receiver, including emergency calls, frequent getting up at night, staying in the bathroom for more than 30 minutes, inadequate or abnormal activity level, not moving during the day for more than 2 hours, leaving the house alone, and a sensor being disconnected from the system. Based on information and signals from smart-care sensors, home care nurses will discuss caregiving activities and planning with family caregivers.Participants were asked to wear smart clothing for at least 4 days/week for 6 months. A home care research nurse will visit the home setting to assess it for sensor installation and suggest environmental modifications for potential hazards. A second visit will be made by an engineer with the research nurse to install the sensors. The research nurse visit the participants' homes once a week during the first month and once every month from the second to third month after the sensor installation to conduct in-home interventions and resolve problems using the smart-care system.

During the first two years, this smart cloth care system will be developed. During the third year. The investigators plan to recruit at least 60 participants and randomize them into an intervention group (N=30) that receives the smart cloth care model and a control group (N=30) that receives usual care. Patient and caregiver outcomes will be followed every two months for a period of 6 months after the smart cloth care system has been implemented. Finally Intention-to-treat and hierarchical linear models will be used to analyze the results.