Affiliations: [a] Biomedical Global Institute of Healthcare Research and Technology, National University of Singapore, Singapore | [b] School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia | [c] Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Healthcare Systems, Singapore
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Melvyn Zhang, Specialist Registrar, Psychiatry, Level 9 Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Healthcare Systems Tower Block, 119054 Singapore. Tel.: +65 63892504; Fax: +65 63892222; E-mail:melvynzhangweibin@gmail.com
Abstract: Recent statistics released by Alzheimer's Disease International has
highlighted how prevalent dementia will become in the next couple of years.
Along with the increased incidence of individuals being diagnosed with
dementia, there has also been an increment in the number of informal carers
for people living with dementia. A recent report highlighted that in
Australia, there are an estimated of 200,000 informal carers as of 2011.
Caring for people who are living with dementia is not an easy task. Previous
studies have highlighted that as much as 65% of caregivers do experience
symptoms suggestive of depressive symptoms in the process of care. With the
rapid advances in technology, it is of no surprise that information
technology and its related innovations have been used in dementia care. A
review of the existing literature shows that much of these innovations are
focused on the care of patients affiliated with dementia. However, clearly
interventions focusing on the needs of the dementia cohort of patient are
limited. There are currently more emerging studies demonstrating the
efficacy of web-based interventional toolkits for carers who are caring for
individuals with dementia. Whilst there are previous studies demonstrating
the effectiveness of smartphone interventions for dementia patients, there
remains a paucity of smartphone based interventions for caregivers who are
living with people with dementia. This technical note describes the
conceptualization of an evidence based smartphone intervention for patients
living with dementia, as well as for carers of these patients.
Keywords: Smartphone, mobile phone, applications, dementia, caregiving, caregivers burden
