Evaluating a mobile application to support persons living with dementia at risk of going missing and their care partners
L. Liu, C. Daum, Y. Tola, A. M. Cruz
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AbstractWith the increasing prevalence of dementia, missing incidents among persons living with dementia are rising. Consequences include injuries, death, caregiver burden, and high search and rescue costs (Bantry White & Montgomery, 2015). Yet, the ability to move around in one’s community helps individuals maintain social, physical, and civic activities, necessary for a good quality of life. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can support mobility and independence of people with cognitive impairment while providing peace of mind to care partners (Liu et al., 2017). ICTs that support wayfinding and community safety typically use global positioning system (GPS). As smart phones have become ubiquitous, mobile applications focused on supporting persons living with dementia in the community and their care partners are emerging. One such mobile app is GuardIO - Family Care, a Health Canada-licensed mobile app. This caregiving tool allows care partners to remotely assess the immediate whereabouts and mobility behaviours of at-risk family members who have cognitive impairment. It captures the mobility behaviour at the time of walking or driving and sends real-time safety alerts to individuals in the care circle. The goals of this project are to: (1) examine the acceptance and usability of GuardIO; and (2) understand mobility patterns of persons living with dementia. Mobility patterns while older adults are in community, may serve as an effective and accurate digital biomarker for identifying preclinical cognitive impartment in this population (Bayat et al., 2022).Keywords: dementia, mobile application, acceptance, usability, wayfinding, community mobility
L. Liu, C. Daum, Y. Tola, A. M. Cruz (2024). Evaluating a mobile application to support persons living with dementia at risk of going missing and their care partners. Gerontechnology, 23(2), 1-1
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2024.23.s.889.opp