A systematic review of reminder and guidance systems for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias patients: context, barriers and facilitators

Abstract

Purpose. To present the latest available research assessing the actual impact of reminder and guidance technologies for daily activities in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia’s patients, outlining design implications for these technologies. Materials and methods. The search was conducted in the ACM Digital Library, IEEExplore, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Sage Journal, ResearchGate, and SemanticScholar. An iteratively-developed Boolean search string was built including up to 18 AND/OR terms across Four categories (Memory Aids, Technology, Daily Activities, Memory Impairment). We qualitatively analyzed the findings and discussions of the findings reported in 40 studies in our corpus to determine common barriers to, and facilitators of, effective intervention implementation and adoption. Results. Forty studies fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. In existing studies, individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias understand the usefulness of different functions that can be provided within an app to assist with everyday tasks. There was a high level of heterogeneity regarding the studies’ location, duration, and evaluation methodology. Conclusions. There is a need for assistive reminder and guidance technologies to be tailored towards autonomy, identity and personalization. Future work should include motivating features to aid during mood changes and feelings of insecurity. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION In existing studies, older adults with cognitive impairment understand the usefulness of different functions that can be provided within an app to assist with everyday tasks. There is a high level of heterogeneity regarding the studies’ location, duration, and evaluation methodology. There is ample need for these reminder technologies to be tailored towards autonomy, identity and personalization. Future work should include motivating features to aid during mood changes and feelings of insecurity.