1 7. Project Summary 2 Due to the degenerative nature of the disease, people with dementia (PWD) require escalating support for their 3 care and are increasingly vulnerable to institutionalization. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 4 is transitioning long-term care services from institutional care to home- or community-based services, including 5 expanding Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to include non-clinical services as reimbursable supplemental 6 benefits. To live at home longer, PWD require support from: (1) formal caregivers (i.e., paid professionals) who 7 often lack knowledge of PWDs’ personal histories and have high turnover, and/or (2) informal care partners (e.g., 8 family or friends) who may have difficulty coping with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia 9 (BPSD) (e.g., aggression, anxiety). Although technological solutions can focus on BPSDs, formal 10 caregivers/informal care partners in home care underuse such resources. If frontline caregivers in home care 11 settings more routinely used technology that addresses social engagement and data collection for PWD and 12 caregivers, this could result in decreased BPSDs and reduced transitions from in-home care. 13 In this Phase 1 SBIR grant, Generation Connect (GC) – a gerontology technology company that develops 14 personalized dementia care engagement solutions – will begin to meet this need by completing a three-part 15 process. First, GC will develop and refine a Care Team Connect (CTC) mobile app to prompt PWD and informal 16 care partners to create a collection of personalized photos, stories, and music preferences for PWD engagement. 17 Second, GC will integrate clinical assessment tools into the CTC app to streamline data collection related to 18 clinical outcomes for PWD and their caregivers. Finally, GC will station tablets with the CTC app in the home to 19 help formal caregivers enhance engagement routines. 20 The Technology-Enabled Caregiving in the Home (TECH) framework will be used to examine key features that 21 influence caregivers’ utilization of the CTC app and contribute to PWD and caregiver outcomes. These key 22 features include: (1) Individual, socioeconomic, or technical moderators, (2) barrier or facilitator mediators, and 23 (3) technology-related measurement. Using insights from focus group sessions, informal care partners will 24 increase the utilization of the CTC app, resulting in an increased amount of user-generated engagement content 25 added to the CTC app. Semi-structured interviews of formal caregivers and case managers will ensure an 26 intuitive and practical CTC app for collecting data related to PWD cognition and BPSD, and formal caregiver 27 well-being. GC leadership and franchise owners are committed to PAS-19-316 goals to reduce caregiving burden 28 for PWD, evaluate changes in cognition, preserve functional independence, and promote PWD/caregiver 29 interactions. Successful completion of the Phase 1 project ...