Increases in life expectancy together with demographic trends have fueled a rapid increase in America's elderly population. As the number of older Americans has grown, so has the prevalence of aging-associated diseases, including Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and dementia. An estimated 5.4 Million Americans had AD in 2012, that number is expected to double by 2030. It is estimated that most these patients (70%) live at home where they receive 75% of their care from informal caregivers, unpaid individuals such as family members, friends, and neighbors. The natural progression of the disease and its burdensome behaviors cause significant stress for caregivers who frequently have close relationships to the patient. Among caregivers of dementia patients, wandering behavior is one of the most stress-provoking symptoms. Wandering is a common symptom that encompasses various walking behaviors that can result in the patient becoming lost or disoriented leading to the risk of serious injury or death for the patient and stress and reduced independence for the caregiver. Family caregivers often cannot leave patients home alone, and instead must bring them on errands to large complex indoor environments. Koronis Biomedical Technologies will develop a prototype patient tracking solution that will give peace of mind to caregivers in both stationary and mobile scenarios, alerting the caregiver to wandering behavior and allowing them to quickly locate their loved one. It will consist of a monitoring system that features geo-fencing and tether modes for both indoor and outdoor use. Feasibility and usability of the prototype system will be assessed by family caregivers through a series of focus groups, as well as engineering evaluations.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Narrative Informal and family caregivers provide three quarters of the care for America's dementia population at a great economic and emotional cost to themselves. These caregivers experience significant stress due to the burdensome behaviors associated with dementia. A significant source of stress is associated with a common disease behavior known as wandering or elopement. The proposed research seeks to develop a comprehensive caregiver tracking assistant device to reduce these burdens, and to facilitate greater caregiver independence.
Project Terms: Elderly; senior citizen; older person; older adult; later life; late life; geriatric; elders; advanced age; Aging; Alzheimer's Disease; senile dementia of the Alzheimer type; primary degenerative dementia; dementia of the Alzheimer type; Primary Senile Degenerative Dementia; Alzheimers disease; Alzheimers Dementia; Alzheimer's; Alzheimer syndrome; Alzheimer sclerosis; Alzheimer disease; Alzheimer Type Dementia; Alzheimer; Americas; Behavior; Communities; Cessation of life; Death; Diagnosis; Disease; Disorder; Economics; Engineering; Environment; Family; Feedback; Focus Groups; Health care facility; care facilities; Healthcare Facility; Health Facilities; Human; Modern Man; Life Expectancy; Minnesota; Nursing Staff; nursing personnel; Patients; Research; Residential Treatment; residential care; Risk; School Nursing; School Health Nursing; Self-Help Devices; assistive device; Assistive Technology; Stress; Technology; Time; Transportation; Universities; Visual impairment; visually impaired; vision impairment; impaired vision; Subnormal Vision; Reduced Vision; Partial Sight; Low Vision; Diminished Vision; Friends; Walking; Caregivers; Care Givers; Family Caregiver; Family Care Giver; Family member; Caring; Injury; base; improved; Area; Phase; psychological; psychologic; Series; Evaluation; Disorientation; Individual; Disease Progression; Impaired cognition; cognitively impaired; cognitive loss; cognitive dysfunction; Disturbance in cognition; Cognitive function abnormal; Cognitive decline; Cognitive Impairment; Cognitive Disturbance; Notification; Hour; Complex; Home environment; Home; Source; System; Location; Dementia; Amentia; Services; Medical center; American; experience; Performance; professor; peace; Devices; Positioning Attribute; Position; Biomedical Technology; Emotional; Caregiver Burden; caregiver stress; care giver stress; Care giver Burden; Cellular Phone; smartphone; smart phone; iPhone; Cellular Telephone; Cell Phone; Radio; Symptoms; Doctor of Philosophy; PhD; Ph.D.; wireless; Wireless Technology; Monitor; trend; cost; blind; Population; Prevalence; Mind; wi-fi; wireless fidelity; usability; prototype; loved ones; Indoor environment; informal care; Informal care giver; informal caregiver; dementia care giver; Dementia caregivers; Care giver support; Caregiver support; cloud server; cloud platform; common symptom; iPhone Application; iPhone App; iOS application; iOS app; Smartphone App; Smart Phone Application; Smart Phone App; Cellular Phone Application; Cellular Phone App; Cell phone App; Cell Phone Application; Android Application; Android App; smartphone Application; Bluetooth
