Co-designing an Adaption of a Mobile App to Enhance Communication, Safety, and Well-being Among People Living at Home With Early-Stage Dementia: Protocol for an Exploratory Multiple Case Study

BACKGROUND: There is a growing interest in using mobile apps to support communication, safety, and well-being. Evidence directly from people with dementia regarding the usability, usefulness, and relevance of mobile apps is limited. OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the protocol of a study that will evaluate an app designed for supporting communication, safety, and well-being among people living with dementia. The study aims to understand if the app can enhance safety through improved communication among users. METHODS: The study will use participatory qualitative methods over 3 cycles of evaluation with co-designers (service users, their families, and care practitioners). The study will be developed in partnership with a specialist home care service in England. Purposive case selection will be performed to ensure that the cases exemplify differences in experiences. The app will be evaluated in a walk-through workshop by people living with early-stage dementia and then trialed at home by up to 12 families in a try-out cycle. An amended version will be evaluated in a final walk-through workshop during cycle 3. Data will be collected from at least 4 data sources during the try-out phase and analyzed thematically. An explanatory multiple case study design will be used to synthesize and present the evidence from the three cycles, drawing on the Normalization Process Theory to support the interpretation of the findings. RESULTS: The study is ready to be implemented, but it was paused to protect vulnerable individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The findings will be particularly relevant for understanding how to support vulnerable people living in the community during social distancing and the period following the pandemic as well as for providing insight into the challenges of social isolation that arise from living with dementia. CONCLUSIONS: Evaluating a mobile app for enhancing communication, safety, and well-being among people living with dementia contributes to the key ambitions enshrined in policy and practice—championing the use of digital technology and supporting people with dementia to live safely in their own homes. The study will involve co-designers living with dementia, so that the voices of service users can be used to highlight the benefits and challenges of assistive technology and shape the future development of apps that enhance safety by improving communication. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/19543