# Technology Intervention to Support Caregiving for Alzheimer's Disease (I-CARE)

> **NIH NIH R21** · INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS · 2020 · $187,623

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Informal caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) manage a complex
spectrum of patient behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). BPSD are major contributing
factors to caregivers’ burden and adverse health outcomes, leading to an increase of unplanned hospitalizations
and a decrease in quality of life. The National Alzheimer’s Project Act recognizes the need for interventions that
“enable family caregivers to continue to provide care while maintaining their own health and well-being.”
Furthermore, recommendations from 2015 and 2018 Alzheimer’s Disease Research Summits include the
application of technology to improve caregiving research and ADRD care.
Our team has translated decades of research on nonpharmachological interventions to manage patient BPSD
and caregiver burden into a fully operational and self-sustaining clinical service called the Aging Brain Care
(ABC) clinical program. However, our evaluations show that the ABC clinical program and other similar clinical
services are limited by: 1) the number and availability of clinical providers; 2) incomplete or delayed BPSD and
informal caregiver burden assessment data to inform timely clinical interventions; and 3) inadequate support for
caregiver engagement in BPSD management and self-care.
To address these limitations, our research team developed a novel mobile health (mHealth) technology
application called Brain CareNotes (BCN), which offers 24/7 support, assessment and longitudinal tracking of
patient symptoms and caregiver burden, and engagement tools including a caregiver toolkit and secure
bidirectional messaging with clinicians or trusted others.
We propose a pilot randomized controlled trial, named the I-CARE trial, in which we will test the feasibility and
estimate the effect of BCN, as an add-on intervention to ABC, on caregiver burden and patient BPSD. We will
enroll 60 patient-caregiver dyads over a period of 15 months and randomize each dyad into a BCN+ABC
intervention group or an ABC alone control group. Data will be collected at baseline, 3, and 6 months in both
groups. We will assess primary feasibility outcome measures of recruitment rate, data completion, and BCN
usability, acceptance, and use as well as secondary outcomes of caregiver burden and patient BPSD. Means,
standard deviations, and confidence intervals will be computed to test feasibility hypotheses. Mixed linear models
will be used to test hypotheses comparing the two conditions at 6 months.
Informal caregiver burden and ADRD are both recognized as important public health problems. Improving our
understanding on how to care for patients with ADRD and their informal caregivers is urgently needed.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9955159
- **Project number:** 5R21AG062966-02
- **Recipient organization:** INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS
- **Principal Investigator:** MALAZ BOUSTANI
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $187,623
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-01 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9955159

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9955159, Technology Intervention to Support Caregiving for Alzheimer's Disease (I-CARE) (5R21AG062966-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9955159. Licensed CC0.

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