Digital data privacy concerns of cognitively normal and impaired older adults participating in a passive digital monitoring study and response to an educational intervention

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Cipher

Passive digital monitoring of real-world behaviors can help identify cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, yet participation may be shaped by privacy concerns and the need for effective education. This poster evaluates digital data privacy concerns and self-perceived knowledge among older adults entering a passive monitoring study, comparing cognitively-normal and cognitively-impaired participants before and after a brief educational intervention about data protection measures and deactivating data collection.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Method

Results

Conclusion

DOI: 10. 1002/alz70856_107144 BIOMARKERS POSTER PRESENTATION BIOMARKERS (NON-NEUROIMAGING) Digital data privacy concerns of cognitively normal and impaired older adults participating in a passive digital monitoring study and response to an educational intervention Rachel E Mis1 Ethan Biswas 1 Rosemary A Lester-Smith 1 Justin Rousseau2 June Cui 1 Yufei Shen 1 Nayanika Ghosh 1 Edison Thomaz 1 Jared F Benge 1 1The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA 2 UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA Correspondence Rachel E Mis, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. Email: [rachel.mis@austin.utexas.edu](rachel.mis@austin.utexas.edu) Abstract Background: Passive digital monitoring of real-world behaviors holds potential for identifying cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). However, little is known about how privacy concerns may affect older adults’participation in these studies, or how to educate older adults on mitigating privacy risks. This study aimed to characterize digital privacy concerns in older adults enrolling in a passive digital monitoring study and evaluate the efficacy of an educational intervention. Method: Fifty-one older adults (mean age: 74.94±5. 29 years) enrolled in this study, with 32 classified as cognitively-normal and 19 cognitively-impaired (MoCA-blind cut-off= 18). At baseline, participants answered questions addressing level of general and study-specific digital data privacy concerns and self-perceived knowledge on maintaining data privacy. Following a brief educational presentation reviewing data protection measures in this study (e.g., specifying data collected/not collected, instruction on deactivating collection of specific data elements), privacy concerns were re-assessed. A 2 (Time; pre/post) x 2 (Condition; general/study-specific) x 2 (Cognitive Status; cognitively-normal/impaired) mixed model ANOVA analyzed the effect of the educational intervention on privacy concerns, and a 2 (Time) x 2 (Cognitive Status) mixed model ANOVA analyzed its effect on self-perceived knowledge. Result: In the privacy concern model, there was a significant within-subjects effect of Condition, F(1,49)= 13.69, p <.001, ηp 2 =.22, with greater concern about general versus study-specific data privacy. A significant Condition x Cognitive Status interaction, F(1,49)=4.16, p = .05, ηp 2 =.08, indicated cognitively-impaired participants endorsed lower concern about general privacy than cognitively-normal participants. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2025 The Alzheimer’s Association. Alzheimer’s & Dementia published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Alzheimer’s Association. Alzheimer’s Dement. 2025;21(Suppl. 2):e107144. [https://doi.org/10.1002/alz70856_107144](https://doi.org/10.1002/alz70856_107144) wi[leyonlinelibrary.com/journal/alz](leyonlinelibrary.com/journal/alz) 1of3 BIOMARKERS A significant main effect of Time, F(1,49)=23.62, p <.001, ηp 2 = .33, indicated privacy concerns were reduced following the intervention. The remaining two-and three-way interactions were not significant, p’s >.21. No significant main effects or interactions were found in the knowledge model, p’s >.09. Conclusion: Older adults with and without cognitive impairment expressed greater confidence in their study-related digital data privacy despite having general privacy concerns. A brief educational intervention effectively reduced participants’ privacy concerns. Results suggest educational efforts by research teams can attenuate digital data privacy concerns in older adults participating in ADRD digital monitoring studies. As digital tools are increasingly incorporated in ADRD studies, it is crucial researchers prioritize participants’ digital data privacy. BI

FAQs

What was the study’s main goal regarding digital privacy?

To characterize digital privacy concerns in older adults enrolling in a passive digital monitoring study and evaluate whether an educational intervention reduces those concerns.

How were participants grouped in the study?

Fifty-one older adults were enrolled and classified as cognitively-normal or cognitively-impaired using a MoCA-blind cut-off of 18.

What effect did the educational intervention have?

Privacy concerns were significantly reduced after the intervention, though no significant main effects or interactions were found in the knowledge model.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Cipher