Clinical trial NCT03828383: In-Home Technology for Dementia Caregivers
Official title: Developing and Evaluating In-Home Supportive Technology for Dementia Caregivers
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Dementia
Alzheimer's Disease
Frontotemporal Dementia
Keywords: Caregivers
Dementia
In-Home Assistive Technology
Lead sponsor: University of California, Berkeley
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of California, San Francisco
name: People Power Company
name: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
First posted: 2019-02-04
Enrollment: 78
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: This study aims to develop and evaluate in-home assistive technology that is designed to alleviate anxiety, burden, and loneliness in spousal and familial caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia.

Detailed description: This study aims to develop, refine, and evaluate a hardware/software system designed to integrate in-home sensors and devices, social connection, and Internet-of-Things (i.e., devices that can be controlled and communicated with via the internet) technologies to create a more supportive and safe home environment for caregivers and people with dementia. The system monitors troublesome behaviors in people with dementia (e.g., wandering), and targets mechanisms (e.g., worry, social isolation) thought to link behavioral symptoms in people with dementia with adverse caregiver outcomes (declines in health and well-being). The system is designed to minimize demands on caregivers' limited time and energy and to provide a platform for data collection that can be used by researchers and care professionals.

Hypotheses:

1. Caregivers in the full operation condition will have fewer negative effects of caregiving (lower burden, higher mental and physical health, higher well-being) than those in the limited home safety condition.
2. Greater use of the social networking features of the system will be associated with fewer caregiver depressive symptoms.
3. Greater utilization of the home safety features of the system will be associated with fewer caregiver anxiety symptoms.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Caregivers are fluent/literate in English
* Caregivers currently reside with spouse/family member with dementia
* Caregivers primarily use an iPhone
* Caregiver has wireless internet in home

Exclusion Criteria:

* Caregivers providing care for individuals with known non-neurodegenerative conditions affecting behavior and cognition
* Caregivers providing care for individuals with longstanding Axis I psychiatric disorder
* Caregivers providing care for individuals with metabolic disorder or major organ dysfunction
* Caregivers providing care for individuals with alcohol abuse or dependence (within 5 years of dementia onset)
* Caregivers providing care for individuals with head trauma with loss of consciousness greater than 30 minutes
* Caregivers providing care for individuals with contraindications to MRI imaging
* Caregivers providing care for individuals with large confluent white matter lesions
* Caregivers providing care for individuals with significant systemic medical illness
* Caregivers providing care for individuals who use a medication likely to affect central nervous system functions adversely

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, Las Vegas (Clark County), Orange County, Los Angeles County, or Oregon, you may complete the following screening questionnaire to determine your eligibility for participation: https://bit.ly/UCBDC Upon completion of the screening questionnaire, the UC Berkeley research team will follow up soon after by email or phone to confirm your eligibility status.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Zarit Burden Interview-Short Form
timeFrame: 9 months after baseline
measure: Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)
timeFrame: 9 months after baseline
measure: Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)
timeFrame: 9 months after baseline
measure: Satisfaction With Life Scale
timeFrame: 9 months after baseline
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Berkeley
country: United States
facility: University of California, Berkeley
state: California
city: Los Angeles
country: United States
facility: Los Angeles County
state: California
city: Orange
country: United States
facility: Orange County
state: California
city: Las Vegas
country: United States
facility: Clark County
state: Nevada
city: Bend
country: United States
facility: Oregon
state: Oregon
Study officials:
affiliation: University of California, Berkeley
name: Robert W Levenson, Ph.D.
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
References:
citation: Chen KH, Wells JL, Otero MC, Lwi SJ, Haase CM, Levenson RW. Greater Experience of Negative Non-Target Emotions by Patients with Neurodegenerative Diseases Is Related to Lower Emotional Well-Being in Caregivers. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2017;44(5-6):245-255. doi: 10.1159/000481132. Epub 2017 Dec 8.
citation: Lwi SJ, Ford BQ, Casey JJ, Miller BL, Levenson RW. Poor caregiver mental health predicts mortality of patients with neurodegenerative disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Jul 11;114(28):7319-7324. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1701597114. Epub 2017 Jun 27.
citation: Otero MC, Levenson RW. Lower Visual Avoidance in Dementia Patients Is Associated with Greater Psychological Distress in Caregivers. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2017;43(5-6):247-258. doi: 10.1159/000468146. Epub 2017 Apr 11.
citation: Brown CL, Lwi SJ, Goodkind MS, Rankin KP, Merrilees J, Miller BL, Levenson RW. Empathic Accuracy Deficits in Patients with Neurodegenerative Disease: Association with Caregiver Depression. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2018 Apr;26(4):484-493. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2017.10.012. Epub 2017 Dec 27.