Participants in the intervention arm will receive the CAPTURE intervention, a tailored, automated text messaging program designed to support care partners of persons living with cognitive impairment (PLWCI) during the 30 days following an emergency department (ED) discharge. The intervention delivers up to two daily SMS messages focused on caregiving tips, care transition guidance, emotional support, and links to trusted resources. Messages are personalized based on caregiver needs identified at baseline and are designed to be brief, accessible, and actionable. Content was developed using a user-centered design approach with input from caregivers and clinicians. Participants will also complete a baseline and 30-day follow-up survey to assess caregiver preparedness, usability, satisfaction, and engagement.

Participants in the control arm will receive usual care following the emergency department (ED) discharge of the person living with cognitive impairment (PLWCI). Usual care may include standard discharge instructions provided by ED staff, referrals to outpatient services, and any follow-up arranged as part of routine clinical practice. No additional caregiver-specific interventions or text messaging support will be provided by the study team. Participants in this arm will complete a baseline and 30-day follow-up survey to assess caregiver preparedness, usability, satisfaction, and engagement for comparison with the intervention arm.

The CAPTURE intervention is a tailored, automated text messaging program designed to support care partners of persons living with cognitive impairment (PLWCI) during the 30-day period following an emergency department (ED) visit. It provides up to two messages per day, customized based on caregiver-identified needs, and addresses topics such as care transition guidance, symptom monitoring, caregiver well-being, community resources, and communication strategies. The content is evidence-informed and was developed through a user-centered design process involving caregivers and clinician stakeholders. Unlike generic text messaging interventions, CAPTURE specifically targets caregiver support needs in the acute post-ED setting for PLWCI.

Enrollment rate will be used to assess Feasibility.

Message engagement, assessed via text message response and interaction metrics, will be used to assess Feasibility.

Engagement will be operationalized through quantitative metrics including (1) the number of text messages delivered, (2) the number and proportion of text messages that received responses from care partners, (3) the time-to-response for interactive messages, and (4) the number of unique interactions per participant over the 30-day intervention period. These metrics will be captured via backend system logs of the text messaging platform used to deliver the intervention.

Participant retention at 30 days post-enrollment, assessed through completion of final follow-up assessment

Retention is defined as the proportion of enrolled care partners who remain active in the study and complete the 30-day follow-up assessment. Completion is operationalized as successfully providing outcome data through a structured telephone-based survey at the end of the 30-day intervention period. This includes response to caregiver-reported outcome measures collected by the research team (e.g., burden, satisfaction, preparedness).

Retention rate will be calculated as a percentage:

(# of participants who complete the 30-day follow-up ÷ total number enrolled) × 100.

Participants lost to follow-up or who withdraw consent prior to completing the final assessment will be considered non-retained.

The System Usability Scale (SUS) will be used to assess the usability of the CAPTURE text message intervention. The SUS is a validated 10-item questionnaire that measures perceived ease of use, efficiency, and satisfaction with a digital system. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree), and item scores are converted to yield a total score ranging from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better usability.

The SUS total score will be calculated for each participant at the 30-day follow-up. Mean and distributional statistics will be reported for the intervention group.

Preparedness for Caregiving Scale to assess Care partner preparedness. Total score range 0 to 32. Higher scores indicate greater perceived readiness for caregiving.