Care Matters: Using Ecological Momentary Assessment & Heart Rate Variability Monitoring to Identify the Timing and Experience of Caregivers’ Stress.

PI: Carina Katigbak, PhD, ANP-BC, FAHA, Associate Professor, Cizik School of Nursing, Department of Research

Co-PI: Sahiti Myneni, PhD, UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics

Co-I: Jessica Lee, MD, MS, UTHealth McGovern Medical School

Chronic stress is one of the most severe risk factors for cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of the death in the U.S. Informal caregivers (CG) of homeboundolder adults (aged 70 years and older) experience significant stress, impacting their physical and mental health. Stress reactivity, the way in which individuals emotionally and physically respond to stressors, is influenced by one’s environment, personal preferences, and available resources and constraints. We aim to build connected health infrastructure to develop novel methods for stress reactivity measurement. We will identify stress reactivity amongst informal CGs of homebound older adults in their natural settings by combining continuous physiologic monitoring via wearable sensors with automated electrocardiography (ECG) analysis and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data over a 7-day period. The study’s secondary aim is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of measuring stress reactivity amongst informal CGs of homebound older adults.