Using a digital tool to detect early changes in everyday functioning in older adults: A pilot study of the Assessment of Smartphone Everyday Tasks (ASSET)

• Published in: Alzheimer's & dementia : diagnosis, assessment & disease monitoring Vol. 15; no. 4; pp. e12506 - n/a
• Main Authors: Dubbelman, Mark A., Hall, Tia C., Levesque, Isabella M., Mimmack, Kayden J., Sikkes, Sietske A. M., Fischer, Shira H., Rentz, Dorene M., Sperling, Reisa A., Papp, Kathryn V., Amariglio, Rebecca E., Marshall, Gad A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.10.2023; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Alzheimer's disease; application; Dementia; digital; everyday functioning; instrumental activities of daily living; Older people; Sensors; smartphone; Smartphones; United States > US; Massachusetts; digital; instrumental activities of daily living; smartphone; application; Alzheimer's disease; everyday functioning
• ISSN: 2352-8729; 2352-8729
• DOI: 10.1002/dad2.12506

INTRODUCTION To investigate the utility of a new digital tool for measuring everyday functioning in preclinical Alzheimer's disease, we piloted the Assessment of Smartphone Everyday Tasks (ASSET) application. METHODS Forty‐six participants (50.3 ± 27.1 years; 67% female; 20 young unimpaired, 17 old unimpaired, 9 mildly cognitively impaired) completed ASSET 7 times. ASSET comprises two main tasks, simulating a Patient Portal and a Calendar. We assessed ASSET's internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and user experience. RESULTS ASSET main tasks correlated with each other (r = 0.75, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.58, 0.86]). Performance on ASSET's Patient Portal related to cognition (r = 0.64, 95% CI = [0.42, 0.79]) and observer ratings of everyday functioning (r = 0.57, 95% CI = [0.24, 0.79]). Test–retest reliability was good (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.87, 95% CI = [0.77, 0.93]). Most participants rated their experience with ASSET neutrally or positively. DISCUSSION ASSET is a promising smartphone‐based digital assessment of everyday functioning. Future studies may investigate its utility for early diagnosis and evaluation of treatment of Alzheimer's disease.