Digital STEADI Program for Fall Prevention in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths \& Injuries (STEADI) Initiative integrates fall risk screening, assessment, and intervention according to established clinical guidelines from the American and British Geriatrics Societies. Although STEADI is a proven multifactorial intervention, traditional dissemination models relying on in-person visits, paper-based materials, and intensive human monitoring and care coordination present significant barriers to widespread implementation for impact at the population level. The sponsor in collaboration with clinical and academic partners, will test a digital STEADI intervention program incorporating an evidence-based exercise program (Otago, OEP) to provide strength and balance training and continuous coaching. The digital program is implemented via two conversational agents, a tablet-based avatar or mobile chat via SMS, supported by gen-AI and trained human staff who supervise the agents as needed. Both agents provide 24x7 companionship with protocolized health coaching and escalation to care providers as needed. The technology has been rigorously validated in cognitively normal (CN) as well as frail older adults with multiple chronic conditions including serious mental illness (SMI), MCI and ADRD. It is optimized for ongoing fall risk monitoring, personalized exercise prescription, and coordinated care. The full digital STEADI program was successfully tested for feasibility and safety in two pilot studies with older adults with and without MCI, one in a simulated home environment and another in private homes of community-dwelling older adults. Upon the successful completion of the randomized control trial (RCT), the Digital STEADI program will be prepared for national implementation and commercialization. A randomized control trial (RCT, N= 300) will be conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the digital STEADI program including OEP compared to standard STEADI (STEADI-Standard) and attentional control (STEADI-Control) conditions. A subset of participants with MCI will be assigned to the STEADI-Avatar group to evaluate the digital program in this high-risk population. All participants will be community-dwelling older adults aged ≥50 years at risk for falls.