Developing a Personalized and Culturally Responsive Virtual Coach to Engage Persons with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias in Cognitive and Physical Activities

项目摘要 据估计，患有阿尔茨海默氏症和相关痴呆症(ADRD)的美国人数量 到2050年，人口翻一番，达到1380万人，小规模的人受到不成比例的影响。认知能力， 身体和社会活动可以改善生活质量、认知、行为和心理 痴呆症(BPSD)，但获取、参与和坚持是具有挑战性的。ADRD专家 昂贵且无法获得日常支持，特别是对于患有痴呆症(PL WD)的人 小规模背景，找不到有文化能力的提供者。支持团体不提供 可扩展的、个性化的、基于证据的技能或日常指导，以及照顾者已经不堪重负 协助日常生活活动。支持PLWD的商业解决方案不具有文化响应性或 可扩展为日常经济实惠的使用。对具有文化相关性、可获得性和 可扩展的ADRD护理。我们正在开发一个个性化的、响应文化的虚拟教练平台，以 参与和支持可持续发展妇女参与以证据为基础的认知和身体活动，以增进健康和 幸福。我们的新技术利用了人工智能(AI)和自然语言的进步 处理(NLP)，以更低的成本促进来自同行审查干预措施的活动。在每个会话中， 阿凡达被用来通过基于证据的认知和身体活动来指导和支持PLWD。至 参与PLWD，我们基于NLP的系统根据PLWD共享的输入调整教练的对话，并 向他们的家人介绍PLWD的生活历史和文化的关键方面(例如，最喜欢的节日、音乐流派、食物)。 化身教练还具有为PLWD的偏好量身定做的特征(例如，种族/民族，性别， 年龄)，并提供社会支持，通过签到、表扬和励志话语来鼓励遵守。我们的 用户界面是为PLWD设计的，以便在大屏幕上轻松与他们的个人虚拟教练交谈和查看 带有麦克风和摄像头的设备(例如，iPad、计算机)。在第一阶段，我们将开发一个个性化和 响应文化的虚拟教练原型，提供基于证据的认知和身体活动，以及 测试种族和民族多样化的轻度ADRD患者及其照顾者的初始可用性/可行性。 通过将活动数字化并提高个人和文化相关性，教练平台将支持可持续发展 通过改善获取、参与和遵守循证干预措施， 增进健康和福祉。

Project Summary The number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) is estimated to double to 13.8 million people by 2050, with minoritized individuals affected disproportionately. Cognitive, physical, and social activities can improve quality of life, cognition, and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), but access, engagement, and adherence are challenging. ADRD specialists are expensive and inaccessible for daily support, especially for persons living with dementia (PL WD) from minoritized backgrounds who cannot find culturally competent providers. Support groups do not provide scalable, individualized, evidence-based skills or daily guidance, and caregivers are already overburdened assisting with activities of daily living. Commercial solutions to support PLWD are not culturally responsive or scalable for daily, affordable use. There is an increasingly unmet need for culturally relevant, accessible, and scalable ADRD care. We are developing a personalized and culturally responsive virtual coaching platform to engage and support PLWD in evidence-based cognitive and physical activities in order to enhance health and well-being. Our novel technology leverages advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to facilitate activities from peer-reviewed interventions at lower costs. In each session, an avatar is used to guide and support the PLWD through evidence-based cognitive and physical activities. To engage PLWD, our NLP-based system adapts the coach’s dialogue based on input shared by the PLWD and their family on key aspects of the PLWD's life history and culture (e.g., favorite holidays, music genres, foods). The avatar coach also has characteristics tailored to the PLWD’s preferences (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, age) and offers social support to encourage adherence with check-ins, praise, and motivational words. Our user interface is designed for PLWD to easily speak to and see their personal virtual coach on a large-screen device with a microphone and camera (e.g., iPad, computer). In Phase 1, we will develop a personalized and culturally responsive virtual coach prototype that delivers evidence-based cognitive and physical activities and test initial usability/feasibility for racially and ethnically diverse persons with mild ADRD and their caregivers. By digitizing activities and increasing personal and cultural relevance, the coaching platform will support PLWD and their caregivers by improving access, engagement, and adherence to evidence-based interventions to enhance health and well-being.