Alzheimer's/Dementia Caregiver Research Study

Our study is called Behavioral and Environmental Sensing and Intervention, or BESI for short. This research studies the person with dementia and their caregiver. Agitation is the most common reason for placing people with dementia into nursing homes as it can increase caregiver burden, stress, and depression. Nobody knows when agitation will occur and many things in the environment may bring it on. You may not notice the early signs of agitation, and agitation can get to a point where it can be hard to manage. Most methods used to deal with agitation in dementia do not always work. A tool to catch agitation early would give caregivers the upper hand to fix the situation, and hopefully have less agitation and less caregiver stress. Behavioral and Environmental Sensing and Intervention (BESI) is used in this study to catch different levels of agitation. BESI is a system of body-worn and in-home sensors that provide continuous, non-invasive assessment of agitation and the environment. BESI is used to find the link between agitation and the home environment. It will help us identify the early features of agitation. It involves both the person with dementia and their caregiver; a pair that we call a “dyad”. For questions or to participate, call the research nurse coordinator at: 540.266.6077 Or email at: besistudy@carilionclinic.org