Caregivers of older adults with ADRD are the largest unpaid, and untrained healthcare workforce in the US, with family caregiving valued at $470 billion in 2013 (higher than total Medicaid spending for the same year). The temptation to take advantage of an impaired loved one may be exacerbated by the stress of taking over disorganized finances and absence of guidance. Lack of clinically guided financial support can also remove financial control from the person suffering from ADRD prematurely. The decision to transfer control is typically made by the untrained caregiver acting on instincts, not by a trained clinician (who does not typically advise on finances) or financial advisor (who does not have clinical training). Each year, around 15% of U.S. seniors are targeted by financial exploitation resulting in nearly $17 billion in losses annually. In over a third of these cases, $6.6 billion is lost to theft enabled by a trusting relationship with a caregiver (called elder financial abuse) annually, and even this may be an under-estimation. AARP describes an average loss of $120k per victim, almost what an average 50+ household has in savings. The stress and isolation of unpaid caregiver workload may lead to resentment and increased risk of financial abuse. There is a need for increased communication, education, and a clinically validated methodology for determining when it is necessary to begin transfer of control over finances. BSM proposes to develop a one-stop-shop technology enabled solution to address these three problems usable by a financial planner, older adult client, and caregiver.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Project Narrative Caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementia (ADRD) (also known as People with Dementia, or PwD) are a community in dire need of caregiver assistance, education, and training resources, including assistive-technology platforms. Existing technologies related to collaborative and face-to-face financial planning are adaptive, but not technologically integrated, while software-only financial technologies are not agile and tailored to a personalized solution.
Project Terms: Elderly; advanced age; elders; geriatric; late life; later life; older adult; older person; senior citizen; Alzheimer's Disease; AD dementia; Alzheimer; Alzheimer Type Dementia; Alzheimer disease; Alzheimer sclerosis; Alzheimer syndrome; Alzheimer's; Alzheimer's disease dementia; Alzheimers Dementia; Alzheimers disease; Primary Senile Degenerative Dementia; dementia of the Alzheimer type; primary degenerative dementia; senile dementia of the Alzheimer type; Certification; Client; Clinical Research; Clinical Study; Cognition; Communication; Communities; Education; Educational aspects; Elder Abuse; abuse of older adults; elder maltreatment; elder mistreatment; elderly abuse; senior abuse; Engineering; Financial Support; financial assistance; Fraud; Household; Human; Modern Man; Instinct; Innate Behavior; Interviewer; Interview; Lead; Pb element; heavy metal Pb; heavy metal lead; Medicaid; Medical Device; Methodology; Persons; Online Systems; On-Line Systems; online computer; web based; Physicians; Questionnaires; Research; Research Personnel; Investigators; Researchers; Resources; Research Resources; Risk; Savings; Self-Help Devices; Assistive Technology; assisted device; assistive device; Computer software; Software; Software Engineering; Computer Software Development; Computer Software Engineering; sound; Standardization; Stress; Technology; Testing; Theft; Stealing; Universities; Measures; Workload; Work Load; Caregivers; Care Givers; Healthcare; health care; base; Procedures; Clinical; premature; prematurity; Medical; psychologic; psychological; Training; Trust; Disease Progression; mental state; mental status; Internet; WWW; web; world wide web; Spottings; tool; machine learned; Machine Learning; Amentia; Dementia; empowered; Education and Training; Training and Education; experience; validation studies; memory decline; Memory Loss; Care giver Burden; care giver stress; caregiver stress; Caregiver Burden; executive control; executive function; Institution; preventing; prevent; Address; Disease Marker; Ph.D.; PhD; Doctor of Philosophy; Educational Materials; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; SBIR; Small Business Innovation Research; Monitor; Principal Investigator; Process; Development; developmental; web services; web-based service; financial decision making; design; designing; financial exploitation; Impairment; loved ones; decision-making capacity; family caregiving; family care giving; Android; dashboard; smartphone Application; Android App; Android Application; Cell Phone Application; Cell phone App; Cellular Phone App; Cellular Phone Application; Smart Phone App; Smart Phone Application; Smartphone App; iOS app; iOS application; iPhone App; iPhone Application; Alzheimer's disease related dementia; AD related dementia; ADRD; Alzheimer related dementia; dementia risk; risk factor for dementia; risk for dementia
