Bridging the Digital Divide: Community-Engaged Strategies for Implementing Technology in Rural Adult Day Centers

TL;DR

This paper explores how to successfully implement a mobile health app in rural adult day centers by engaging the community and adapting to local needs.

Contribution

The study introduces a community-engaged framework for implementing CareMobi, a mobile app, in rural adult day centers through collaborative design and training.

Findings

CareMobi improved communication between adult day centers and caregivers, enabling earlier health issue detection.

Co-developing protocols with staff and using an iterative design process supported sustained engagement.

Strategies included leveraging caregiving networks and aligning technology with reimbursement structures.

Abstract

Successfully embedding technology into long-term care settings requires intentional, evidence-based community engagement strategies that address the unique needs of providers, caregivers, and persons living with dementia. This presentation will explore the implementation of CareMobi, a HIPAA-compliant mobile health application designed to enhance communication between adult day centers and family caregivers, within a rural, under-resourced adult day center setting and identify key components of a community-engaged approach to technology implementation that prioritized collaborative design, staff training, and iterative adaptation to fit the center’s workflows. Drawing from qualitative and quantitative data, we identify successful approaches to recruitment, intervention design, and implementation of CareMobi that address digital literacy among staff and caregivers, infrastructure limitations, and the importance of trust-building in rural communities. We identified strategies that supported sustained engagement, including co-developing implementation protocols and recruitment strategies with frontline staff, an iterative user centered process for designing the app, leveraging existing caregiving networks, and aligning technology use with reimbursement structures and regulatory requirements. Findings from 2 centers and n = 17 participants, suggest that CareMobi improved information-sharing between adult day center staff and families, enabling earlier identification of health changes and care coordination needs. By providing insights into real-world application, this presentation will contribute to the broader discussion of how researchers and practitioners can effectively introduce and sustain technology in community-based long-term care settings. The lessons learned from this rural implementation will offer a framework for scalable, equitable adoption of digital health tools across diverse adult day center environments.