Codesigning a Multilingual Virtual Helper for Dementia Carers in Australia: A Case Study

Abstract

Dementia is becoming a commonly prevalent chronic disease worldwide impacting communities that are culturally and ethnically diverse. Despite the burden on family carers (hereafter, carers) of people with dementia in these communities, research on how to support these communities is lacking. Research is limited, especially regarding the design and development of multilingual online resources that are culturally appropriate and usable for these target groups. In such a backdrop, this study aimed to co-design a digital health intervention named DrawCare, including a multilingual virtual helper with carers from nine linguistic groups across Australia. Six co-design workshops were conducted online. Convenience and snowball sampling were used for carer recruitment (n=21), and data were thematically analyzed. Participants desired a helper with aesthetic and user-friendly design and problem-framing prompts in language to navigate the website for supporting resources. This feedback was used to improve the virtual helper for user testing and a randomized control trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the DrawCare intervention.