E-Technology for Chinese Dementia Caregivers

描述(由申请人提供)：患有痴呆症的老年人的家庭照顾者患压力相关疾病的风险增加。对于华裔美国护理者来说，这种风险尤其明显，他们的负担因缺乏关于痴呆症及其护理管理的语言上适当的信息而加剧。SBIR的目的是在第一阶段开发一个全面的、具有文化能力的教育网站，并在第二阶段扩大网站，为说中文和英语的照顾者提供更多互动功能，以提高他们的知识、技能和心理健康。我们建议使用家庭系统的方法来教育照顾家庭的所有成员。第一阶段的具体目标是：1)开发一个具有文化内涵的中英文网站，以增进疾病和护理管理的知识，以及为患有阿尔茨海默病和相关痴呆症的老年人(ADRD)提供家庭内支持；b)评估使用该网站的效果；c)将该网站作为教育资源向提供者、老龄服务组织、消费者团体和华裔美国组织传播。我们的第二阶段目标是将网站上经过良好测试的内容转变为一个具有纸质和音频的互动网站，以允许使用该网站的照顾者之间的同行支持，并通过在全球向讲中文的照顾者传播该网站来扩大照顾者的参与。第二阶段的具体目标包括网站的开发、评估和商业化。这项SBIR是由致力于与衰老相关的培训和技术开发的环境与健康公司、以技术为基础的数字设计公司INVIVIA公司以及大学阿尔茨海默病和相关痴呆症专家合作完成的。拟议的商业应用：拟议的中/英文网站具有潜在的市场潜力，在美国有超过270万讲中文的人(约2000例痴呆病例)，在亚洲讲中文的人中有超过4.44亿(约200万例痴呆病例)，具有良好的商业潜力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Family caregivers of older adults suffering from dementia are at increased risk for stress-related illnesses. This risk is especially true for Chinese-American caregivers, whose burden is exacerbated by a lack of linguistically appropriate information on dementia and its care management. The purpose of this SBIR is to develop a comprehensive, culturally competent, educational website in Phase I, and expand the website to include more interactive features in Phase II for Chinese-and English-speaking caregivers to improve their knowledge, skills, and psychological well being. We propose to use a family-system approach to educate all members of the caregiving family. Specific Phase I aims are to: 1) Develop a Chinese/English website with culturally competent content to improve knowledge of disease and care management, as well as within-family support for caregiving to older adults with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD); b) Evaluate the effectiveness of using the website, c) Disseminate the website to providers, aging service organizations, consumer groups, and Chinese-American organizations as an educational resource. Our Phase II goal is to turn the well-tested content of the website into an interactive website with both print and audio to allow peer support among caregivers using the web-site, and to broaden the participation of caregivers by disseminating the website globally to Chinese-speaking caregivers. Specific Phase II aims include developing, evaluating, and commercializing the website. This SBIR is a collaboration among Environment & Health Inc., a group devoted to aging-related training and technology development, and INVIVIA Inc., a technology-based digital design company, along with university-based experts on Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. Proposed Commercial Applications: With market potential of over 2.7 million Chinese-speaking people in the U.S. (about 2000 dementia cases) and over 444 million (about 2 million dementia cases) among Chinese-speaking people in Asia, the proposed Chinese/English website has promising commercial viability.