A Taxonomy of Mental Health and Technology Needs for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Caregivers
4 affiliations
- 1University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL USA
- 2Illinois Neurological Institute, OSF HealthCare, Peoria, IL USA
- 3Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN USA
- 4University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA USA
Abstract
Family members caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD) provide the foundation of long-term care worldwide. In 2023, more than 11 million U.S. family and friends contributed 18 billion hours of unpaid care, often at the cost of their own physical and mental health. These informal caregivers—also referred as the “invisible second patients”—experience elevated rates of mental health problems. Yet research commonly reduces their complex psychosocial experiences to a single construct of caregiver burden, obscuring which specific needs are unmet or effectively supported. At the same time, digital and AI-enabled technologies are rapidly expanding, from smartphone apps and videoconferencing to sensor platforms and AI chatbots. However, the absence of shared frameworks across medicine, psychology, and technology research limits cumulative progress. This study introduces a Caregiver Mental Health and Technology Taxonomy that systematically links AD/ADRD caregiver needs with corresponding classes of technology-based interventions. Drawing from an interdisciplinary literature review and two qualitative studies with caregivers, the taxonomy identifies mismatches between caregiver priorities and existing technological support, highlights under-served domains such as relational strain and compassion fatigue, and proposes design directions for adaptive, responsive systems. The framework offers a shared vocabulary to guide clinicians, researchers, and technology designers in developing more person-centered and clinically grounded innovation in dementia care.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-026-09686-4.
Related
- A pilot evaluation of a preventive intervention to support mental health among dementia caregivers: a controlled longitudinal study
- Mini‐Mental State Examination trajectories across dementia subtypes in the Swedish Registry for Cognitive/Dementia Disorders and U.S. National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center
- Sarcopenia in Informal Caregivers of Persons Living with Dementia: A Scoping Review
- Emotion Recognition Impairments in People with Dementia are Associated with Lower Physiological Linkage with Caregivers
- The Impact of a Stepwise Method Involving Family Caregivers in Managing Challenging Behavior and Pain in Nursing Home Residents With Dementia
BibTeX
@article{wang2026taxonomy,
title = {{A Taxonomy of Mental Health and Technology Needs for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Caregivers}},
author = {Keran Wang and Drishti Goel and Jiayue Melissa Shi and Violeta J. Rodriguez and Daniel S. Brown and Dong Whi Yoo and Ravi Karkar and Koustuv Saha},
journal = {Ageing International},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1007/s12126-026-09686-4},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-026-09686-4},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A Taxonomy of Mental Health and Technology Needs for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Caregivers
AU - Keran Wang
AU - Drishti Goel
AU - Jiayue Melissa Shi
AU - Violeta J. Rodriguez
AU - Daniel S. Brown
AU - Dong Whi Yoo
AU - Ravi Karkar
AU - Koustuv Saha
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
JO - Ageing International
DO - 10.1007/s12126-026-09686-4
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-026-09686-4
AB - Family members caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD) provide the foundation of long-term care worldwide. In 2023, more than 11 million U.S. family and friends contributed 18 billion hours of unpaid care, often at the cost of their own physical and mental health. These informal caregivers—also referred as the “invisible second patients”—experience elevated rates of mental health problems. Yet research commonly reduces their complex psychosocial experiences to a single construct of caregiver burden, obscuring which specific needs are unmet or effectively supported. At the same time, digital and AI-enabled technologies are rapidly expanding, from smartphone apps and videoconferencing to sensor platforms and AI chatbots. However, the absence of shared frameworks across medicine, psychology, and technology research limits cumulative progress. This study introduces a Caregiver Mental Health and Technology Taxonomy that systematically links AD/ADRD caregiver needs with corresponding classes of technology-based interventions. Drawing from an interdisciplinary literature review and two qualitative studies with caregivers, the taxonomy identifies mismatches between caregiver priorities and existing technological support, highlights under-served domains such as relational strain and compassion fatigue, and proposes design directions for adaptive, responsive systems. The framework offers a shared vocabulary to guide clinicians, researchers, and technology designers in developing more person-centered and clinically grounded innovation in dementia care. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-026-09686-4.
SN - 0163-5158
SN - 1936-606X
ER -