DemiCare aims for personalized and data-driven support for informal caregivers – spouses, children, and other caring relatives – of persons with dementia. Users receive personalized information which meets their personal and social needs (e.g. based on education, gender, and their relationship to the person with dementia) and their social environment (e.g. local care services). Moreover, smart wearables such as smart soles will be used to support the assessment of dementia-related symptoms. An AI-based analysis offers a forecast of symptoms and coping strategies preparing the users for future challenges without overwhelming them. A co-design phase together with carers, persons with dementia, and experts will ensure an agency-enabling design. In a co-creation and agile process together with users, effective personalization approaches will be developed. The system will be improved in several iterations with carers. Finally, a cross-national experiment with at least 180 participants enables a sound impact assessment.
Objectives:
Carers of persons with dementia need individual support – new technologies can help them. DemiCare aims to provide a personalized information system for informal caregivers for persons with dementia considering the diversity of carers, the persons with dementia,
and their social environment. Carers are diverse – they have different relationships with the care recipient, different access to resources, varying dementia-related knowledge, and diverse living situations. For spouses, children, and all caring relatives the DemiCare information system should be a real benefit to handle the care of dementia patients.
Expected Results and Impact:
DemiCare improves the users’ knowledge of dementia, care abilities, and by that, the quality of care and relationship with the person with dementia. The project supports positive aspects of caring while reducing stress. DemiCare follows the principle that persons with dementia are acknowledged, respected, and heard. Carers are trained to take their affected relatives seriously, deal with dementia-related symptoms, and use dementia-friendly communication. DemiCare enables social service providers, such as care organizations, municipalities, or advocacy groups, to improve the current care, counseling, and self-help services for dementia caregivers.
Contact:
Julia Himmelsbach
E.: julia.himmelsbach@ait.ac.at
T.: +43 664 88964936
