Long‐term digital device‐enabled monitoring of functional status: Implications for management of persons with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Informal caregiving is an essential element of health‐care delivery. Little data describes how caregivers structure care recipients’ lives and impact their functional status. Methods We performed observational studies of community dwelling persons with dementia (PWD) to measure functional status by simultaneous assessment of physical activity (PA) and lifespace (LS). We present data from two caregiver/care‐recipient dyads representing higher and average degrees of caregiver involvement. Results We acquired >42,800 (subject 1); >41,300 (subject 2) PA data points and >154,500 (subject 1); >119,700 (subject 2) LS data points over 15 months of near continuous observation. PA and LS patterns provided insights into the caregiver's role in structuring the PWD's day‐to‐day function and change in function over time. Discussion We show that device‐enabled functional monitoring (FM) can successfully gather and display data at resolutions required for dementia care studies. Objective quantification of individual caregiver/care‐recipient dyads provides opportunities to implement patient‐centered care.

Keywords

• Alzheimer's disease
• caregiver
• dementia
• dyad
• functional status
• lifespace