Caregiver Well-Being Support
Drs. Krysten Hill and Paige WhitneyResearch Summary
The Caregiver Wellness Support is developing a user-friendly wellness app designed to support caregivers in managing stress, building healthy habits, and improving overall wellbeing. The initial focus is on professional caregivers working in memory care settings, who face unique emotional and cognitive demands while supporting individuals with dementia and related conditions. By combining evidence-based strategies with accessible, on-demand tools, the app delivers flexible, real-time support—helping caregivers sustain their own health while providing high-quality care to others.
The Problem: Caregivers are essential to our healthcare system—but often at a cost to their own wellbeing. Millions of unpaid and professional caregivers face high levels of stress, burnout, and limited access to support, especially when time, resources, and flexibility are scarce.
The Innovation: This project reimagines caregiver support through a flexible, app-based solution. By delivering bite-sized wellness tools, guided strategies, and gamified challenges, the app makes it easy for caregivers to build healthier routines—anytime, anywhere.
Community and Industry Impact
This project supports caregiver wellbeing by partnering directly with healthcare providers and memory care professionals to ensure the app reflects real-world needs. Through focus groups and interviews, the project will co-develop solutions that are practical, accessible, and responsive to the challenges caregivers face every day.
Student Engagement and Mentorship
Graduate students will play an active role in the research and development process, participating in focus groups, data collection, and content design. This hands-on experience creates meaningful mentorship opportunities while building skills in applied research, digital health innovation, and community-engaged practice.
Increasing UCCS Visibility
By collaborating with healthcare partners and producing an evidence-informed digital tool, the project positions the university as a leader in caregiver support and innovation. The app and its associated research will increase visibility across community, academic, and professional networks, highlighting a scalable model for addressing caregiver wellbeing.
Timeline
DELIVERABLES
- Focus group research findings from graduate student participation
- Stakeholder interviews and insights from healthcare and memory care providers
- User-friendly caregiver wellness app (initial prototype and pilot version)
Documentation of participant experiences and philosophical reflections
Initial Idea Development
Fall 2025
- Define app goals, target users (memory care professionals), and core features
- Conduct literature review on caregiver wellbeing and digital health tools
- Identify and onboard healthcare and memory care partners
Spring Planning
Spring 2026
- Build partnerships with healthcare providers for recruitment
- Train graduate students in research protocols and facilitation
- Develop initial content modules (evidence-based wellness strategies)
Research and Data Gathering
Summer 2026
- Conduct focus groups with graduate students to test concepts and content
- Interview memory care professionals and healthcare providers
- Gather qualitative data on caregiver needs, barriers, and preferences
- Analyze findings and identify key themes for app refinement
Pilot Deployment
September to May 2027
Create wireframes and low-fidelity app prototypes
Launch pilot deployment with community and healthcare partners
- Collect user feedback on usability, engagement, and effectiveness
- Continue iterative improvements based on pilot data
- Explore pathways for expansion (employers, health systems, grants)
Meet the Innovator
Professional Bio: Krysten Hill
Dr. Hill (she/her) joined the UCCS Psychology Department in 2024. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Alabama, with a concentration in Clinical Geropsychology, and completed her predoctoral internship at the VA St. Louis Healthcare System. Before joining UCCS, she completed a postdoctoral research position at Washington University in St. Louis.
Dr. Hill’s research broadly focuses on stress, health, and well-being across adulthood into late life. The goal of her research is to better understand when and how older adults maintain positive health and well-being in the face of stress. Her research has examined major stressful life events, such as late-life relocation, and daily stressors. Dr. Hill is interested in how stress, health, and well-being change in the short-term (i.e., from moment-to-moment and day-to-day) as well as in the long-term (i.e., across years and decades as people age). Her research connects stress and well-being to important healthy aging outcomes, such as physical health, mental health, and cognitive functioning/dementia risk.
Professional Bio: Paige Whitney
Dr. Whitney is a Colorado Springs native who earned a degree in Biology from Colorado College. She began her career in Seattle, where she managed a multidisciplinary health clinic—an experience that strengthened her commitment to collaborative, team-based approaches to health and wellbeing. After six years in the Pacific Northwest, she returned to Colorado to earn both her Master’s in Health Promotion and Ph.D. in Educational Leadership, Research, and Policy at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS).
She currently serves as Assistant Dean of Interprofessional Education, Assistant Clinical Professor, and Director of the Center for Active Living in the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences. In these roles, she bridges academia and community by developing innovative, evidence-based programs that improve population health while preparing the next generation of the healthcare workforce.
Her research and applied work focus on employee wellness, interprofessional education, and community-based health promotion. Through initiatives such as the City of Colorado Springs Employee Wellness Program, she applies data-driven strategies to enhance engagement and organizational wellbeing. Her work is centered on advancing collaborative solutions that strengthen community health while creating meaningful, hands-on learning opportunities for students.