CareCompass

Empowering Caregivers with Simple, Accessible Support.

Team members:

• Isaiah Tan, UX Designer

• Joshua Gei, Data Scientist/Product Manager

• Justin Noah Chua, UX Designer

• Ming Jun Zhang, Developer

• Natalie Yu, Product Manager/Data Analyst

Problem Statement

Background
Almost everyone has been, is or will be a caregiver to someone else. This resonates particularly in the Singapore context, where the confluence of a rapidly ageing society and societal norms around familial responsibilities mean that the prevalence and burden of informal (unpaid) caregiving for seniors will only rise. Already, a 2020 study by Duke-NUS estimated that the cost of informal caregiving for seniors in Singapore comes up to $1.28 billion a year, with caregivers putting in more than 60.5 hours per week looking after seniors (Duke-NUS, 2024). 12,400 Singapore residents have also given up their jobs due to caregiving responsibilities for their parents (MOM, 2022).

Given the time and resource-intensivity of informal caregiving, it is no wonder that 53.4% of caregivers feel that they are barely coping or burdened (NCSS, 2022). For certain conditions such as dementia, the burden of care on caregivers is twice as high compared to conditions other than dementia (WiSE study, 2023). The top challenges include managing behavioural changes (cited by 70% of caregivers), emotional stress and burnout (67%), coping with disease progression (57%) and juggling personal and professional life (57%) (Dementia SG, 2024).

In our user interviews, searching for and navigating to relevant information to support loved ones was a common pain point underlying these challenges. While healthcare providers could be helpful if they were not busy, the long time between appointments (in the public system) meant that caregivers would need to take matters into their own hands. Research has found that caregivers (57%) of patients with dementia would turn to friends or family for advice, as our interviewees did in hopes of obtaining more specific advice that they could trust (Dementia SG, 2024). If not, online search could be useful but results may be too generic.

Problem statement
New family caregivers of dementia patients are often overwhelmed by the many decisions they have to make for their loved ones and the strain on their own mental/emotional health. While caregivers may receive some support from hospitals at point of diagnosis, there remains a gap for caregivers who search for help in community settings.

Proposed Solution

For new family caregivers of patients with dementia, CareCompass is a personalised care navigator that facilitates quicker, less stressful day-to-day care.

To address this, CareCompass:
1. Displays 3 top, personalised recommendations on topics including care services and support based on caregivers’ stated preferences
2. Features a conversational chatbot trained on publicly available resources from trusted partners (e.g. Dementia Singapore, AIC) for interactive, instant guidance on topics outside of the recommenders above
3. Will close the loop with community touchpoints (e.g. Community Outreach Teams (CREST)) for caregivers desiring to speak with a professional for further advice