將心比心

WeCare smartphone app (App) is developed by Korean Community Center of the East Bay (KCCEB) to address situationally-induced trauma for limited English proficient (LEP) Chinese caregivers who provide care for an elderly family member with dementia. The mission of KCCEB is to empower Korean and other Asian immigrant communities of the Northern California region through education, advocacy, direct services, and the development of community-based resources. The App is one of several tools that KCCEB is developing as part of a larger and on-going mission to serve the needs of LEP immigrants in the Korean and Chinese community. The App’s goal is to improve mental health literacy by: 1) Normalizing caregiver stress and burnout through education on caregiver burnout and awareness of associated symptoms ; 2) Increasing perceived social support and engagement in activities that can reduce stress; and 3) Helping individuals seek and access support resources in Northern California. Specifically, the study will assess the feasibility and usability of the App in supporting caregivers with reducing burnout and compassion fatigue, increasing help-seeking behavior, and connecting them with caregiver support services. The App provides caregiver support through information, guidance and links to resources in 3 domains: Signs and Symptoms Awareness: Providing educational information and tools to develop greater self-awareness of burnout and compassion fatigue related to caregiving; Motivational Guidance: In the form of inspirational messages, poetry, songs and stories as well as suggestions for self-care activities that help to normalize caregiver stressors; and Resource Sharing: Sharing of critical information and resources to support users who need access to behavioral health and social services, as well as caregiver training and education. The App comprises the following individualized, interactive features and functionality: User assessment on enrollment User completes in-app caregiver burden self-assessment survey and quarterly thereafter User selects pleasant events that may improve mental health and sets weekly frequency App suggests pleasant event activities for users to incorporate into stress reduction plan Creation of individualized plan App creates a weekly stress reduction plan of pleasant event activities and frequency App schedules daily reminder notifications for stress reduction plan activities App includes a daily mood questionnaire in the daily reminder notifications App tracks trends in adherence to stress reduction plan and progress in daily mood Promotion of caregiver resources and supports App recommends content and tools that support knowledge and behavior change App provides access to a robust searchable database of support services and resources We seek the following permissions from the users (caregivers): Location access This is required in order to provide the access to services and resources closer to their location. These services/ resources are available under the “resources” section in the App. Send notification (maximum 1 per day) Reminding the user to pursue their plan (pleasant event) is very important to ensure they do what makes them feel good and this is good for their mental health. We ask the user about their moods on a daily basis. It is important for the user to know their progress towards improving their mental health (burn-out level). We ensure that the user does not get more than just one notification in a day in any case. These notifications are very critical to measure and improve user’s mental health.