An experimental web app can help caregivers better manage loved ones who have dementia without resorting to drugs, a new study says.
The app, called WeCareAdvisor, provides caregivers with strategies to help them manage behavioral symptoms like agitation or aggression in relatives with dementia, researchers reported recently in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The app didn’t significantly reduce the frequency or severity of these symptoms, but the study found it did help caregivers feel less distressed and better able to manage problems.
“Caregivers in this sample were managing, on average per month, about six challenging behavioral symptoms such as agitation, restlessness and wandering,” said lead researcher Laura Gitlin, dean emerita of nursing and health professions at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
“Using the app reduced caregiver distress with these behaviors even though they still occurred,” Gitlin said in a news release.
The app guides caregivers through a series of questions that ask them to first describe troubling behaviors and then investigate underlying causes of those behaviors. Based on their answers, the app will offer a series of non-drug strategies a caregiver might use.
Caregivers also receive daily tips via texts and access to educational materials. They are able to rate the effectiveness of the strategies suggested by the app.
To test the app, researchers recruited 262 family caregivers and assigned half to immediately start using the app. The other half were told they’d receive access to the app after three months.
All participants were interviewed at the outset and then again at the one-month and three-month milestones, to see whether the app helped both caregivers and patients with dementia.
By three months, those given immediate access to the app had significantly lower distress regarding their loved one’s behavior, results showed. They were less likely to become upset about problems, and more likely to have better well-being.
“We found that caregivers used the app on average once a month,” Gitlin said. “Caregivers also loved receiving the tip of the day, access to vetted resource educational materials on the app in addition to the strategies personalized to their particular care context and behavioral challenges.”
Prior research has shown that caregiver distress is in some ways more important than troubling behavior by a dementia patient, said senior researcher Dr. Helen Kales, a professor at the University of California, Davis.
The level of a caregiver’s stress more strongly predicts whether a dementia patient will end up hospitalized or in an ER than the severity of the patient’s symptoms, she said in a news release.
“How distressed the caregiver is feeling appears to drive the trajectory, and so anything that reduces distress in the caregiver may improve daily life for the caregiver and person with dementia,” Kales said.
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Dementia can take a substantial toll on family caregivers, requiring round-the-clock care and supervision. Black older adults experience a disproportionate burden of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, and face significant disparities in diagnosis and care.
Caregiving may involve more than one person, with children, spouses, relatives, and friends potentially sharing responsibilities. In fact, research shows that Black caregivers may be more likely to be adult children and that family caregiving structures can differ across households.
Agitation, aggression, wandering, or resistance to care can be symptoms of dementia. For families, these behaviors can sometimes be frightening and difficult to handle. While your loved one’s actions can be disheartening to witness, as their caregiver, it’s important to distinguish them from disease-related behaviors rather than viewing them as intentional.
The WeCareAdvisor app is designed to help family caregivers manage dementia symptoms. It uses a guided four-step framework (Describe, Investigate, Create, and Evaluate) that walks caregivers through identifying triggers, investigating underlying medical or environmental causes, and generating tailored “prescriptions” from over 900 evidence-based strategies. This web app may help caregivers feel more confident and less distressed while caring for their loved one.
While the study’s results are promising, the WeCareAdvisor app didn’t significantly reduce behavioral symptoms themselves. Additionally, the study included few Black participants, so more research is needed to better understand how well these tools work across different communities.
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Being a caregiver for someone with dementia can be challenging, but you don’t have to go through it alone. Resources like the WeCareAdvisor app may help manage psychological and behavioral problems, reducing caregiver distress and increasing confidence in your ability to care for your loved one. However, because the study included relatively few Black caregivers, additional research can help determine whether digital interventions are accessible, acceptable, and effective across different communities.
More information
WeCareAdvisor has more about the study and the experimental app.
SOURCES: Drexel University, news release, Aug. 20, 2026; Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Aug. 6, 2026
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