After providing consent, participants will complete baseline surveys via REDCap, followed by a 35-minute virtual onboarding session on Microsoft Teams. During onboarding, participants will learn about the Health App Recommendation Tool (HART) and create a profile. Using an algorithm, HART matches participant needs with health apps, displaying the top three to four recommendations. Study staff will record these apps and provide download guidance. No app data will be shared with the team. Participants may use the apps as they choose over a four-week period. Afterward, follow-up assessments will be sent via REDCap, including WHOQoL, SF-36, PHQ-4, ZBI, Global Fatigue Index, and Davis Usability Surveys. Both baseline and follow-up surveys take about 35 minutes to complete.

In 2023, over 11 million family members provided 19.2 billion hours of unpaid care for people with dementia in the U.S. Caregivers face significant physical and emotional challenges, while many individuals with ADRD prefer to stay in their homes. Mobile health apps offer support but often lack user-friendly guidance and are hard to navigate.

The Health App Recommendation Tool (HART) bridges this gap by assisting ADRD caregivers in finding suitable health apps. It evaluates users' daily needs and preferences, using end-user informed points of measurement to match them with objectively reviewed apps within the HART App Library. This user-centered tool, shaped by ongoing feedback, simplifies app discovery, ensuring personalized recommendations that enhance caregiving and improve quality of life.

The WHOQOL-BREF, developed by the World Health Organization, is a measure of perceived quality of life. It includes 26 items across Physical Health, Psychological, Social Relationships, and Environment domains, along with two stand-alone global items assessing overall quality of life and health. Each domain score is transformed to a 0-100 scale, with higher scores indicative of a better quality of life.

The SF-36 is a widely used measure of health-related quality of life that captures eight dimensions: Physical Functioning, Role Limitations due to Physical Health, Bodily Pain, General Health, Vitality, Social Functioning, Role Limitations due to Emotional Problems, and Mental Health. All items are scored from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicative of better health status. Scale scores are produced by averaging scores across items in that respective scale.

The PHQ-4 is an brief screening tool designed to assess anxiety and depressive symptoms over the past two weeks. It contains four items, each rated from 0 ("not at all") to 3 ("nearly every day"). Subscale scores for anxiety and depression range from 0-6 each, and the total score ranges from 0-12, with higher scores indicating greater psychological distress. Total scores of 0-2 suggest no distress, 3-5 mild, 6-8 moderate, and 9-12 severe distress.

The Zarit Burden Interview assesses the level of burden experienced by informal caregivers. The 22 items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 0 ("never") to 4 ("nearly always"), yielding a total score ranging from 0 to 88. Higher scores indicate greater perceived caregiver burden. Typical interpretive ranges classify scores of 0-21 as little or no burden, 21-40 as mild to moderate burden, 41-60 as moderate to severe burden, and 61-88 as severe burden.

The Davis Usability Survey, based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), evaluates several constructs that impact technology adoption: Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), and Attitudes Towards Use (ATU). Each subscale contians 7, 10, and 6 items respectively rated on a 5-point Likert scale, with higher values indicating more favorable perceptions of usability and acceptance. Subscale scores are calculated by averaging the items within each domain.