Social Engagement is Associated with Location-based Digital Markers on a Dementia Care Unit

Social engagement is an important contributor to quality of life and the overall health of people with dementia. There is an opportunity to develop an objective measure of social engagement by capturing factors such as the number and duration of social contacts, time in social settings, and social network metrics. The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal relationship between clinical assessment of social engagement and digital markers of social behavior and networks derived from a clinical real-time location system (RTLS).

Prospective observational study.

Thirty-seven patients on a short-stay specialized dementia unit for behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (60-day average length of stay).

Location data were collected using a wrist-worn clinical RTLS. Features measuring social contact, time in social spaces, and social network analyses were extracted from the location data for each morning and evening shift. The association over time between average weekly features and weekly Revised Index of Social Engagement (RISE) assessment scores was investigated using univariate panel models.

There was high variability within and between participants in the RTLS-derived digital markers of social behavior. Seven digital markers of social engagement were statistically associated with weekly RISE scores over time, including time spent in the dining hall, time without co-patient contact, number of contacts longer than 5 minutes in duration, and social network PageRank.

Location data collected in residential care environments can provide insights into patterns of social engagement in people with dementia.