Faith-based Home Activity Toolbox (HAT)

Application

Set of interventional activity tools designed to incorporated faith-based principles to improve the quality of life of individuals living with or family members caring for persons with moderate to severe Alzheimer Disease or related dementias.

Key Benefits

Provides relief from anxiety.
Reduced behavior disturbances.
Improved quality of life for individuals living with dementia and their caregivers.

Market Summary

As described by the World Health Organization, dementia is a syndrome that leads to deterioration in cognitive function beyond what might be expected from the usual consequences of biological aging. Spiritual and religious activity can help provide relief from the symptoms of dementia and improve quality of life for people with dementia and their family caregivers. Researchers at Emory university have developed the FAITH-BASED Home Activity Toolbox (Faith-HAT), a set of faith-based home activities that can provide a culturally organic way for PLWD to retain a spiritual connection and decrease behavioral symptoms, while enhancing caregiver well-being.

Technical Summary

The invention consists of a set of various faith-based activities that simultaneously provide a culturally organic way for people living with dementia to retain a spiritual connection and decrease behavioral symptoms, while also enhancing caregiver well-being. The toolbox ensures easy to use strategies for planning successful activity engagement and enabling faith communities to better support their members living with dementia. The activities are culturally tailored to both personal preference and functional abilities including devotional readings, prayers, religious music/hymns, religious imagery, and audio/video recordings of sermons that a caregiver can access via a computer.