Smartphone Application Intervention Adherence in an Ageing Clinical Sample

Pain is very common for people with dementia (PWD) in residential aged care (RAC), with as many as 80% demonstrating some type of chronic or acute pain. Pain is also one of the most frequently implicated factors that lead to severe behaviours in PWD, such as increased aggression and/or anxiety. In many instances, these behaviours become so severe they necessitate the involvement of specialist dementia behaviour management services such as those provided by Dementia Support Australia (DSA). Despite this, pain remains significantly undertreated in PWD, due in part to underreporting of pain by PWD and infrequent and/or inadequate pain assessment.
This tabletop conversation discusses the use and utility of the smartphone application PainChek™ to assist in the detection and management of pain in the provision of behaviour management by DSA. PainChek™ detects pain by utilising automated facial recognition and artificial intelligence. This facilitates assessment by allowing for objective and efficient assessment that does not rely on subjective rating scales or the report of pain by a PWD. In this presentation we will not only provide a hands-on demonstration of the PainChek™ application, but also discuss how this new technology has allowed for improved detection and management of pain in PWD seen by DSA, and the subsequent reduction of pain associated behaviours.