Technology Intervention to Support Caregiving for Alzheimer's Disease (I-CARE)

Summary

The specific aims of this study are 1) to test the trial and intervention feasibility of Brain Care Notes (BCN) app, 2) To estimate the effect size of BCN on reducing informal caregiver burden at 6 months, and 3) To estimate the effect size of BCN on reducing patient behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) at 6 months. Subjects will be recruited from the Aging Brain Care (ABC) program of Eskenazi Health and Indiana University Health located in central Indiana.

Conditions

• Dementia, Alzheimer Type

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

ABC Clinical Program

The goal of the ABC Clinical Program is to help primary care physicians achieve the standard of care in the diagnosis, evaluation and management of patients with ADRD. The ABC Clinical Program is delivered by an interdisciplinary team led by a care coordinator. The informal caregiver is also enrolled in the program and caregiver burden is assessed and managed. The ABC team collects all relevant data and formulates an individualized care plan in collaboration with the informal caregiver. The care coordinator communicates the team's recommendations to the primary care physician and finalizes a collaborative plan of action. During the next year, the ABC team uses face-to-face and telephone interactions with the patient and caregiver to monitor and modify implementation of the care plan. The goal of IUHP Usual Care is to provide preventive care services to their patients. Older adults are assessed for ADRD during clinic visits and refered to brain care specialty as necessary.

BEHAVIORAL

BCN

BCN is a mobile application (app) for informal caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias (ADRD). The BCN app delivers the following behavioral support: 1. 24/7 psychoeducation and caregiver support on a variety of ADRD related topics, presented as a browse-able library of stories and advice cards or "Notes"; 2. Assessment of informal caregiver status and patients behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), in the form of the selfadministered HABC Monitor, along with reporting and historical tracking of HABC Monitor scores; 3. Engagement tools, in particular, (i) a toolkit for saving, sorting, creating/editing, and sharing Notes and (ii) a bi-directional messaging tool for communicating with clinicians or trusted others.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Aging (NIA)

  collaborator NIH

• Indiana University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Richard J. Holden, PhD · Indiana University

• Malaz Boustani, MD, MPH · Indiana University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-11-25

Primary Completion

2021-07-31

Completion

2021-07-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations