SBIR-STTR Award

The MapHabit System (MHS) is our neuroscience-based interactive care management platform that utilizes apatented visual mapping system supported by smart devices to improve cognition and reinforce routine habitsin individuals living with AD/ADRD. The MHS approach relies on the discovery that certain regions of the brainthat underlie habit and procedural learning are spared during the course of AD/ADRD, and these regions canhelp maintain activities of daily living (ADLs). Unmet needs addressed by the technical innovation for thisFastTrack: Caregiving is commonly acknowledged as one of the most stressful, under-recognized, under-paid, and under-supported jobs. The new MHS+Caregiver Training Program (CTP) will offer key innovative featureto enhance the caregivers' own quality of life, which, in turn, will result in reduced turnover and reducedcaregiver-related cost burdens in all types of care settings, hospital systems, and for payers and providers.This will make MHS a unique mHealth product in the AD/ADRD community and will increase its marketcompetitiveness, attract in-home users and be especially appealing to memory care facilities that areconcerned with achieving measurable improvements in managing caregiver burden. The CTP will featureinnovative components designed to directly support caregivers in their role, including self-paced learningstarting with understanding the caregiver's knowledge and skill level; interactive live coaching sessions; easyto use caregiver-centric dashboards to share information, and social networking capabilities to promote socialsupport and community building.Phase I, Aim 1, will build out the CTP into the MHS platform. Phase I, Aim 2, will assess usability, acceptability and feasibility of the CTP using iterative usability studies involving 15 caregiver/patient dyads todetermine optimal user experience, and modify the build accordingly. Phase II, Aim 1, we'll build out enhanceduser support modules to improve the CTP experience, including visual map games to increase caregiver self-awareness, motivation, and learning, social networks to provide social support connection to other caregivers, and a caregiver-centric dashboard for caregivers to track their own stress and well-being, as well as keypatient performance measures. Phase II, Aim 2, will assess usability, acceptability and feasibility of theenhanced CTP features. Phase II, Aim 3, we'll conduct a RCT (n=50 caregiver/patient dyads) to determine ifadding the CTP to the MHS leads to enhanced caregiver and patient outcomes compared to the MHS alone.We hypothesize that enhancing caregiver knowledge and social and emotional support will improve caregiverquality of life, which will, in turn, improve the patient's overall quality of care and functional status. The primarydata driven outcome will be caregiver quality of life. Patient care, determined by the MHS and standardizedcognitive assessments as well as self-reported caregiver and patient satisfaction will be assessed as well. Thisintegrative, easy to use caregiver-centric training program will be unique to the caregiver market.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
Caregiving is commonly acknowledged as one of the most stressful, under-recognized, under- paid, and under-supported jobs. The new MapHabit System Caregiver Training Program (CTP) will offer a technology-driven caregiver training platform that will train caregivers to be more knowledgeable about memory and dementia while also learning to better manage their own stress and their quality of life needs. In this way, caregivers can be more innovative in their care strategies using person-centered wellness plans and thoughtful decision processes. Informed patient care reinforces effective caregiving, reduces patient emergency visits, hospitalizations, caregiver dropout, and reduces overall burden on the healthcare system.

Project Terms: