When someone in your family has Alzheimer’s disease, it often can seem like everyone has the disease because of the all -consuming impact it has on caregivers and families. Understanding and assessing caregiver stress and burnout is critical to ensuring everyone — the person with dementia as well as caregivers — is able to stay as healthy as possible. Recent reports have even indicated that a person with dementia typically passes away sooner if the principal caregiver is badly stressed.
Register for our Nov. 8 Science Night: Baby Boomers and Biomarkers to learn more about caregiver stress from a recent Wright State University (WSU) study using people recruited at last year’s Alzheimer’s science event. This exploratory qualitative study, led by principal researchers Jennifer C. Hughes, PhD, and Tanvi Banerjee, PhD, examined the feasibility of using gaming technology that will ultimately assess task performance and stress among caregivers of dementia patients. 
The long-term goal is to use tablet application (app), such as an iPad, to detect caregiver burnout for the purposes of early intervention. The WSU study examined subjects’ interaction with specific game technology called CAST (Caregiver Assessment Using Serious Gaming Technology). Participants were essentially asked to play a certain type of computer game and their responses and feedback were recorded. It seems there may well be an app for everything!
Come to Science Night: Baby Boomers and Biomarkers to hear all about this local WSU study as well as presentations from a national Alzheimer’s Association science/research expert, local neurologists, a dementia music therapy mixer exercise, and a look at an organization that provides grant money to photographers who study dementia in their work. Dinner will be provided. Cost is $10 per person. It will be a lively and fascinating evening, 6 – 8:30 pm, at Sinclair Community College Conference Center.
Register online here or send a $10 check payable to the Alzheimer’s Association by Nov. 1 to: ATTN: Jerry Mallicoat, Alzheimer’s Association, 31 W. Whipp Rd., Dayton, OH 45459. If paying by check, you can send one check for multiple people but be sure to include the names of all those who are attending. If you have questions, please contact us at mvprograms@alz.org or call Jerry Mallicoat at 937-610-7004.
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