SBIR-STTR Award

In the proposed Phase 1 Project, we will develop and test an innovative product called HOME 4 CARE (the Hearthstone Optimized Multimedia Environment for Care-planning, Activities, Recreation, and Education), which will be the first commercially-available mobile software suite designed to improve the quality of care provided by home health workers to persons with dementia. The suite will consist of three main components/functions, each of which relates to different, but equally important, aspects of caring for persons with dementia (PWD) in a Home Care Environment (HCE). These three components are: 1) Dementia-specific Care Planning (DCP), 2) Dementia Education for Homecare Staff (DEHS), and 3) Therapeutic Recreation (activities) for Homecare Patients (TRHP). The H4C Suite (H4CS) will be designed to operate on 9-10 inch tablets. In Phase 1, we will develop the foundation of and initial content for, each of the three tiers. These include the Information Gathering Module of the DCP, three foundational courses on dementia care for home health aides (HHAs), and three different types of tablet-based activities for persons with dementia to use on the home health aides tablet computer. In the Phase 2 project, three further developments will occur. First we will create the Goals Section of the DCP module, building on the foundation of the Information Gathering platform. This will enable home health agencies to utilize a care-planning tool designed specifically for staff serving persons with dementia. This tool will enable case managers and administrators to create mobile, electronic calendars and task lists for HHAs, which will give them a clear purpose throughout the day while working with a client with dementia. These calendars and tasks lists are becoming essential in these days of multi-caregiver environments. The calendar will serve a very practical purpose of making HHA's aware of the client's appointments with case managers, social workers, rehabilitation staff, physicians, etc. It will even help with grocery shopping. Beyond these practical uses, the calendar will also enable supervisors to schedule meaningful activity (TRHP) for the PWD on a regular basis, thereby potentially increasing the client's engagement, affect, and quality of life (CITE). The calendar could also be used to schedule staff education during downtime (DEHS). This integrated approach to care of dementia is much needed in the home health market. In Phase 2, we will also create seven additional, 30-minute long training modules on specific topics in dementia that are directly related to home health staff. This will bring the total to the 10 foundational topics of dementia care for product launch at the end of the study. Finally, in Phase 2, we will develop a fourth type of activity programming, ultimately creating 12 sets of content fo each of the four activity types, for an overall total of 48 activities at product launch. Long-term plans after launch include developing additional educational modules and activities for use with the H4C system.

Public Health Relevance Statement:


Public Health Relevance:
In the proposed Phase 1 Project, we will develop and test an innovative product called HOME 4 CARE (the Hearthstone Optimized Multimedia Environment for Care-planning, Activities, Recreation, and Education), which will be the first commercially-available mobile software suite designed to improve the quality of care provided by home health workers to persons with dementia. The suite will consist of three main components/functions, each of which relates to different, but equally important, aspects of caring for persons with dementia (PWD) in a Home Care Environment (HCE). These three components are: 1) Dementia-specific Care Planning (DCP), 2) Dementia Education for Homecare Staff (DEHS), and 3) Therapeutic Recreation (activities) for Homecare Patients (TRHP). The H4C Suite (H4CS) will be designed to operate on 9-10 inch tablets.

Project Terms:
Administrator; Affect; Appointment; base; Behavior; Calendar; Caregivers; Caring; Case Manager; Client; Computer software; Dementia; design; Development; digital; Educational Activities; Educational aspects; Electronics; Environment; Foundations; Goals; Health; Home environment; Home Health Agency; Home Health Aides; Human; improved; information gathering; innovation; Interview; Knowledge; Learning Module; Marketing; Measures; Multimedia; Outcome; Participant; patient home care; Patients; Persons; Phase; Physicians; Pre-Post Tests; Process; programs; public health relevance; Quality of Care; Quality of life; Reading; Recreation; Rehabilitation therapy; Research; Research Infrastructure; Running; satisfaction; Schedule; Scheduling and Staffing; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; social stigma; Social Workers; Sorting - Cell Movement; Surveys; System; Tablet Computer; Tablets; Testing; Therapeutic; tool; Training; Work

In the proposed Phase 2 Project, we will complete the development and testing of an innovative product called HOME 4 CARE (the Hearthstone Optimized Multimedia Environment for Care-planning, Activities, Recreation, and Education). HOME 4 CARE (H4C), which has gone through preliminary development and testing in Phase 1, will be the first commercially-available mobile software suite designed to improve the quality of care provided to persons with dementia (PWD) by home health workers (HHW). The suite will consist of three main components, each of which relates to distinct, but equally important, aspects of caring for PWD: (1) Therapeutic Recreation (activities) for home health clients (TR), (2) Dementia Education for Homecare Staff (DEHS), and (3) Dementia-specific Care Planning (DCP). The H4C Suite will be a cross-platform application, designed to operate on major operating systems (Android, iOS, and Windows) and browsers. While the primary target industry is home health care, a secondary market will consist of long term care and adult day centers. Phase 2 development and testing of the H4C App will consist of the following. For the TR module, additional content for the three activity types used in Phase 1 will be developed and evaluated. Also, three additional activity types will be developed and tested, resulting in six different activity types. For the DEHS module, we will improve the three training courses used in Phase 1, based upon feedback obtained in the preliminary testing. We will also create and evaluate three additional training courses (Dining Experience, Activity Programming, and Personal Care). In addition, we will create and evaluate six brief video tutorials--one for each activity type. These tutorials will include specific tips on how to successfully facilitate each activity type and how to adjust the activity for persons in the later stages of dementia. For the DCP module, we will improve the Information Gathering Section (IGS), which was tested in Phase 1. We will also create and test the Goals Section (GS) of the DCP Section, building on the foundation of the IGS. The GS will allow HHW to utilize information from the IGS to create care plans for clients. These care plans will incorporate a calendar view and task view for standard care procedures (toileting, bathing, etc.), appointments for doctor visits and wellness activities, daily tasks (laundry, housekeeping, etc.), as well as utilizing the activities module with clients, and scheduling the education module courses for HHW during informal downtime. The DCP will enable case managers and administrators to create mobile, electronic calendars and task lists for HHW, which will give them a clear purpose throughout the day while working with PWD.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
PROJECT NARRATIVE In the proposed Phase 2 Project, we will complete the development and evaluation of an innovative product called HOME 4 CARE (the Hearthstone Optimized Multimedia Environment for Care-planning, Activities, Recreation, and Education), which will be the first commercially-available, cross-platform mobile software suite designed to improve the quality of care provided to persons with dementia (PWD) by home health workers. The suite consists of three main components, each of which relates to different, but equally important, aspects of caring for PWD in a Home Care Environment: (1) Therapeutic Recreation (activities) for home health clients (2) Dementia Education for home health Staff, and (3) Dementia-specific Care Planning. While the primary market is home health care, a secondary market will consist of long term care and adult day centers.

Project Terms:
Administrator; Adult; Affect; Alzheimer's Disease; Android; Appointment; Assisted Living Facilities; base; Bathing; Behavior; Behavioral; Books; Calendar; care burden; caregiving; Caring; Case Manager; Categories; Client; Computer software; Dementia; design; Development; Education; Electronics; Environment; Esthetics; Evaluation; experience; Feedback; Foundations; Goals; Health; Home Care Services; Home environment; Housekeeping; Human; improved; Industry; information gathering; innovation; Interview; Knowledge; Learning; Learning Module; Long-Term Care; Long-Term Effects; Marketing; member; Mental Depression; Mind-Body Intervention; mobile computing; Multimedia; Operating System; Participant; patient home care; Persons; Phase; Procedures; programs; Quality of Care; Quality of life; Recreation; Research Infrastructure; satisfaction; Schedule; Self Care; social stigma; Sorting - Cell Movement; Staging; standard care; Surveys; Test Result; Testing; Therapeutic; TR-2 mycotoxin; Training; Update; Visit; Visual; Voting; Work