AI-powered care planning for advanced dementia in nursing homes
Official title: AI-Enhanced Care Planning for Advanced Dementia in Nursing Homes
Funded at Boston College · NIH-11286695 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A nursing home project uses artificial intelligence to help create person-centered care plans for residents with advanced dementia.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R21 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Boston College NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Chestnut Hill, United States) |
| Project start | September 11, 2026 |
| Project end | August 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $416,969 |
| NIH project number | 1R21NR022608-01 |
| Project ID | NIH-11286695 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are residents with advanced dementia in participating nursing homes and their families and care teams.
✕Less likely to help
Residents without advanced dementia or those in facilities not using the tool may not experience direct benefits.
What this research studies
This project aims to make care plans in nursing homes more tailored to each resident by using an AI-powered tool that guides staff and families through six key areas of advanced dementia care. It builds on the ADVANCED-Comfort 6M framework to capture what matters to residents who can no longer express preferences, with real-time prompts to support conversations. By addressing staff time constraints and turnover, the project seeks to sustain meaningful, individualized plans that improve daily life and well-being for residents. The effort involves adapting an existing care-planning tool into an AI application that facilitates collaboration among families, staff, and clinicians.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lead to more person-centered daily care and better quality of life for residents with advanced dementia.
How similar studies have gone: Preliminary work with the AC-6M Tool shows promise, but sustained AI-enabled implementation is still being tested.
Where this research is happening
-
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Lopez, Ruth Palan — Boston College
- Study coordinator: Lopez, Ruth Palan
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.