The Aliviado Caregiving Application: An Iterative, Human-Centered Design Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Care partners (CPs) of persons living with dementia (PLWD) face complex caregiving responsibilities that are worsened by a lack of access to non-pharmacological interventions and decision support for behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. OBJECTIVE This manuscript describes our iterative, human-centered design to tailor our existing evidence-based Aliviado Caregiving mobile health (mHealth) app for diverse informal CPs. METHODS We utilized a three-stage process to refine and revise the initial Aliviado Caregiving wireframes. Multiple key participants were recruited, including an investigator team and clinician users (n=101) in Stage 1, CPs of PLWD (n=8) in Stage 2, and a community advisory board (n=8) in Stage 3. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize clinician characteristics and identify key features for the initial CP app wireframes in Stage 1. Reflexive thematic analysis was applied to qualitative transcripts in Stages 2 and 3. RESULTS Descriptive statistics of the clinician survey found that key features of a CP app included “CP stress management strategies/intervention” (84%) and “CP stress self-monitoring/tracking” (69%). Four qualitative themes were identified: 1) User-Interface Design Preferences and Suggestions, 2) User-Friendly Language, 3) User-Concern Prioritization, and 4) Future Application Features. CONCLUSIONS Applying co-design principles improved our ability to enhance the acceptability, feasibility, and usability of the Aliviado Caregiving app for future testing in a pilot project.