In Europe, the majority of care for a person with dementia (PwD) is delivered by informal caregivers. Due to demographic change, the number of people in informal care is continuously increasing. Growing numbers of people affected by dementia and other age-related illnesses further contribute to physical and psychological stress and burden of informal caregivers.
The responsibility of having to care for a PwD often leads to burnout symptoms and overburdening with social expectations. Informal caregivers of persons with dementia (ICGD) are therefore at increased risk of depression. Research shows more than 50% of caregivers experience major depressive symptomatology. A meta-analysis study revealed that this group represents a high risk for developing depression: 1 in 3 ICGD versus 1 in 5 people in the general population.
The DemiCare+ project aims to implement an integrated solution for preventing depression in informal caregivers of people with dementia.
By implementing a digital health intervention for the ICGD in health and social services, the project aims to predict, reduce, and avoid the development of depression as well as to promote resilience and wellbeing.
The project will be based on the personalized information and training offer of the existing DemiCare app. This is a fully automated self-help preventive intervention that provides interventions on how to deal with behavioural problems of people with dementia and for increasing caregiving competency.
DemiCare+ provides a holistic approach for assessing and supporting caregiver resilience.
Wearability for persons with dementia focussing on pragmatic as well as hedonic experience dimensions
Agency-enabling data-sharing by design
Data-driven, multi-level personalization training approaches and sensitive symptoms anticipation
DemiCare+ receives funding from the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW), and Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) under the frame of the co-funded partnership of Transforming Health and Care Systems, THCS, (GA N° 101095654 of the EU Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme).
Copyright © 2025 DemiCare Plus. All rights reserved.