ACILIA
AI companion for care partners of people living with Dementia, available on a smart speaker and mobile app.
Currently, 5.7 million people live with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) with two-thirds choosing to live at home.3 As a consequence, family members, mostly untrained and ill-prepared, assume the role of an informal care partner (CP)* for the people living with ADRD (PLWAD)1,2. During the caregiving journey, the CP’s mental health can be impacted by feelings of incompetence, loneliness, and stress. CPs are required to perform complex caregiving tasks without proper knowledge and training to manage behavioral symptoms, activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). The lack of confidence in their capability to perform these tasks can lead to feelings of incompetence. Further, care tasks often confine CPs to their homes and withdraw them from social activities, which may lead to feelings of loneliness. Ultimately, the burden of care, along with feelings of incompetency and loneliness, can lead to significant mental health issues, including stress.
The problem
Currently, 5.7 million people live with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) with two-thirds choosing to live at home.3 As a consequence, family members, mostly untrained and ill-prepared, assume the role of an informal care partner (CP)* for the people living with ADRD (PLWAD)1,2.
Users that we are solving for
ACILIA is designed for care partners who are informal caregivers to family members living with ADRD. Our target user consists of mostly spouses in the 50+ age group who are caring for their partner, and adult children in the 30-40s age group caring for their parents.
Solution
A home-based solution with conversational agent technology, specifically designed to support informal CPs in their care efforts. For Phase I, we propose to design, develop, and test the feasibility of an innovative, integrated home kit called the Avatar Companion to Improve the Lives of Informal care partners of individuals with Alzheimer’s (ACILIA). ACILIA will be a home kit with SaaS platform that integrates an embodied conversational agent using AI capabilities.
