Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto

Published purpose

In this project, we aim to adapt an evidence-supported psychotherapeutic caregiver (CG) intervention called the CARERS program into a virtual reality (VR) simulation training platform. The project is co-led by a clinical research team with extensive expertise in dementia care and CG interventions and the NRC team with extensive expertise in healthcare technological solution development and testing. We draw upon a large network of collaborators with clinical, simulation, implementation, knowledge mobilization (KMb), and healthcare technology expertise to collaborate with knowledge users (KUs), CGs and care stakeholders. The project goes through an evidence-based process of co-design, clinical content development, content validation, and VR development, followed by testing of the minimum viable product (MVP) while addressing implementation challenges. This project answers the call for Aging-in-Place for dementia CGs and persons living with dementia in a time when limited access to resources is exacerbated by the pandemic.