Stakeholder Insights on Implementing and Sustaining a Digital Support Tool for Dementia Carers Across the Asia-Pacific
Upasana Baruah

Date and Time

Thursday, November 12, 2026, 10:15 AM - 10:30 AM

Theme / Track

Arts, design, innovation and technology

Presentation Format

Concurrent

Background: Digital health interventions offer scalable support for dementia carers; however, evidence on their real-world implementation and sustainability remains limited. This study explores multi-level stakeholder perspectives on enablers, barriers, and strategies for implementing and sustaining e-DiVA, a digital support tool for dementia carers, across diverse health systems in the Asia–Pacific. empowering Dementia Carers with an iSupport Virtual Assistant (e-DiVA) is a multilingual, culturally adapted digital intervention based on the World Health Organisation’s iSupport framework, deployed across Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Methods: A qualitative World Café methodology was employed at the e-DiVA global launch and finalisation workshop conducted in May 2025. Thirty-one purposively selected stakeholders, including carers, clinicians, researchers, aged care providers, and dementia advocates, participated in structured rotating small-group discussions across five topics- usability, accessibility, engagement, enabler and barriers to implementation of e-DiVA. Transcripts and field notes were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: Seven themes emerged: (1) awareness and trust as foundational to adoption; (2) accessibility and usability shaped by connectivity, design, and caregiver burden; (3) cultural and contextual adaptation beyond language translation; (4) multi-channel, relational engagement strategies; (5) workforce integration and peer support as capacity-building mechanisms; (6) system-level embedding and sustained funding for scalability; and (7) content and delivery innovation, including AI personalisation and gamification. Conclusion: Sustainable implementation of e-DiVA requires coordinated strategies addressing trust, cultural legitimacy, digital accessibility, workforce capacity, and policy alignment. These findings provide a stakeholder-informed implementation roadmap for scaling digital dementia support equitably across the Asia-Pacific region.

Keywords

Dementia, Implementation, Informal Caregivers, Non-Pharmacological Interventions, Technology

Authors

Dr. Zara A. Page, National Ageing Research Institute
Dr. Thu Ha Dang, Swinburne University of Technology
Prof. Tuan Anh Nguyen, National Ageing Research Institute; Swinburne University of Technology; Adelaide University; Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin; Vin University
e-DiVA team, Swinburne University of Technology, Adelaide University, La Trobe University, University of Sydney, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), UNSW, University of California Davis, University of Auckland, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, National Geriatric Hospital Vietnam, Hanoi Medical University, Flinders University