Connecting Caregivers With Community Services: The Care Buddy Platform

The study aims to develop a mobile-app (Care Buddy) which will be a one-stop integrated source of information and technology-based solutions for caregivers of people with dementia (PWDs). Study aims to bring caregivers into closer partnerships with the wider ecosystem (e.g., healthcare practitioners, community services, peer support, and care service providers) which will ultimately improve outcomes for both PWDs and their caregivers.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Dementia
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Care Buddy

Detailed Description

This is a 5-year study with various stages: 1) proof-of-concept stage to design and develop the Care buddy intervention, 2) proof-of-value stage to assess the feasibility, acceptability and satisfaction with the Care buddy intervention among informal caregivers of PWDs, 3) test-bedding stage to assess the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the Care buddy intervention versus usual care among informal caregivers of PWDs with help of a multi-centre 2-arm RCT and 4) deployment stage to scale up the intervention at multiple centres across Singapore, monitor its adoption and outcomes and assess any organizational and individual barriers to adoption.

By the end of the proposed five-year project, investigators aim to develop and evaluate the technology as well as achieve widespread adoption among caregivers of PWDs. Investigators want to enable easy access to information, provide decisional and social support, improve the reach and uptake of existing community service providers, and assist with coordination among multiple informal and professional caregivers through the journey of dementia caregiving and into the bereavement phase.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 210
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Chetna Malhotra, MD, MPH; Phone Number: +65 65165692; Email: chetna.malhotra@duke-nus.edu.sg

Study Locations

• Singapore
  • Singapore
    • Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
      • Recruiting
      • Duke-NUS
      • Contact: Shimoni Shah, MPH; Phone Number: 61769 65 65161769; Email: shimoni@nus.edu.sg
      • Principal Investigator: Chetna Malhotra, MD, MPH

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• The inclusion criteria for patients are

  1. Singaporean/Permanent residents
  2. Age 21 years of age or older
  3. Main person or one of the main persons involved in making decisions regarding treatment patient receives or responsible for ensuring the well-being of the patient
  4. An active primary caregiver for at least 6 months, and planning to remain the primary caregiver for the next 2 years
  5. Is a family member of the patient with dementia
  6. Can read and write in English
  7. Accessible by telephone to schedule interviews
  8. Has familiarity with use of technology (e.g., computers, tablets, or internet) and is able to complete surveys, forms using digital technology
  9. Intact cognition determined through the Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT) for those who are ≥ 65 years old.
  10. Caregivers who score >=9 on the 6-item Zarit Burden scale

Exclusion Criteria:

• Caregivers of patients staying in nursing home or other long-term care facility with no intention of being discharged will not be eligible however, if the patient is admitted to respite care for short/long term duration after being recruited, caregivers can continue to participate.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: CareBuddy; Caregivers of person with dementia who will be randomized in this arm will have access to the CareBuddy mobile app on their phone. They will be using this app for 1 year and will be followed up every 2 months.	Device: Care Buddy; Care Buddy mobile intervention will be a one-stop solution for caregivers of dementia patients and help them in their care-giving journey by providing them solutions to manage behavioural problems, physical conditions of their loved one. The app will be multi-component and will provide tools for the caregiver to manage their stress and burden. It will provide information on dementia, list of service providers, information on grief, financial support. This app will provide a platform for all enrolled caregivers to chat with each other and provide social support.
No Intervention: Usual care; Caregivers of person with dementia who will be randomized in this arm will continue usual care for their loved one. They will be enrolled for 1 year and will be followed up every 2 months.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Caregiver Psychological well-being	Flourish - range - 8 - 56, high score represents a person with many psychological resources and strengths	1 year from data collection
Caregiver social scale	Friendship scale - The score range is 0-24. A high score represents social connectedness and a score of "0" complete social isolation	1 year from data collection
Caregiver Dementia Knowledge	The Dementia Knowledge Assessment Tool - range - 0-21. High score equals to higher knowledge of dementia.	1 year from data collection
Caregiver Impact	Revised Memory & Behavior Problem checklist - range - 0-96 Higher score indicates increased impact.	1 year from data collection
Caregiver Burden	Zarit Burden scale - range 0-88. 0 - 21 little or no burden, 21 - 40 mild to moderate burden, 41 - 60 moderate to severe burden, 61 - 88 severe burden >34 - clinically significant burden.	1 year from data collection
Caregiver Stress	Perceived Stress Scale: Scoring: PSS scores are obtained by reversing responses (e.g., 0 = 4, 1 = 3, 2 = 2, 3 = 1 & 4 = 0) to the four positively stated items (items 4, 5, 7, & 8) and then summing across all scale items.	1 year from data collection

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Health care costs	Health care costs, hospitalizations and emergency room visits for caregivers and PWDs will be obtained from patient billing data.	1 year from data collection

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
• Collaborators: Khoo Teck Puat Hospital; Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 5, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 5, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): February 10, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 15, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 13, 2026
• Last Verified: October 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurocognitive Disorders; Dementia
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2022-309

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No