VERILY - Virtual Dementia Friendly Rural Communities: Using technology to improve support for carers of people living with dementia in rural communities

There are 3 components of the intervention which will be all made available to all participants when they are assigned to the intervention group: 1. A “technology learning hub” in each rural community that is staffed by volunteers who have been trained to help carers to learn how to use online technology. The hub is available during business hours for access at participants' discretion. 2. A website and mobile application (app) that provide information about services for people with dementia and that also helps connect carers and service providers with each other. Both the website and app have been specifically designed for the study. However, some of the content has been collated from readily available literature and other information sources which we have cited and acknowledged accordingly. The website and app will be available ad libitum. 3. Carer peer support groups that meet by video-conference once every eight weeks. The groups are not facilitated but will be organised by the study research officer who will also monitor and record session attendance. Owing to the open cohort stepped wedge design, the intervention duration will be dependent on the time each cluster commences the intervention. Hence the intervention will be delivered over a minimum of 8 weeks and a maximum of 32 weeks. The research officers will collect data on the usage and access of each of the intervention strategies. We will also use website/app analytics from logins to monitor adherence and access google data analytics on website/app use.