Caregiver Stakeholder Registry

Establishing a Caregiver Stakeholder Registry for Collaboration for Health Equity, Engaging Technology for Aging in the Home (CARE for CHEETAH)

Jennifer Gray, Ph.D.
NIU Professor of Public Health

In 2021, Professor Jennifer Gray and a team of researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) won an Illinois Innovation Network Seed Grant to establish a caregiver registry in Illinois. The team, led by Naoko Muramatsu, a professor of community health sciences at UIC, is developing the caregiver registry in order to improve the design of AI technologies to support caregiving for aging adults.

By 2030, all American baby boomers will be older than 65. The rapid growth of the older adult population will increasingly strain caregivers and health and social service sectors, impacting communities throughout Illinois. Technology that incorporates Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to assist caregivers as they deliver high-quality care and to extend older adults' abilities in home and community settings. The demand for technologies that support older adults and their caregivers is expected to skyrocket over the next decade.

However, many caregivers and older adults have limited to no access to technology and are excluded from the process of technology design, development and deployment. This exclusion may magnify health disparities and challenge the development of a sustainable, equitable aging society.

This project will address this critical gap by developing infrastructure (a caregiver registry) to integrate caregivers into technology design, development and deployment. The specific aim is to develop a registry of diverse caregivers (including frontline care workers, family and friends) who care for older persons with physical and/or cognitive disabilities. The established registry will support ongoing efforts to design, develop and deploy more effective, user-friendly technology to assist older adults and their caregivers.

Ultimately, the registry (known as Collaboratory for Health Equity, Engaging Technology for Aging in the Home, or CHEETAH) aims to:

  • Support aging Americans in their homes and maintain their health and well-being through person-centered technology design.
  • Create novel mechanisms for older persons and caregivers to fashion affordable, effective care ecosystems.
  • Promote health equity across rural and urban communities.

Contact Us

Yvonne Harris, Ph.D.
Vice President for Research and Innovation Partnerships
Email: yharris@niu.edu
Phone: 815-753-1271
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