April 29, 2026—In 2025, the a2 Collective Coordinating Center began collaborating with the University of Southern California (USC) to add questions about use of emerging AI and technology solutions to Caregiving Lifecourse Experiences Assessed in Real-time (CLEAR), a study of caregivers recruited from the nationally representative Understanding America Study (UAS) online panel.1 Caregivers’ responses to these questions will provide information regarding barriers to their adoption of emerging assistive technologies, how key factors intersect to influence technology adoption, perceived benefits and risks of AI applications, what they prioritize when evaluating new technologies, and how technology use varies by caregiver and care recipient characteristics. This information should be of interest to a2 pilot awardees and other AgeTech researchers as they project market penetration timelines and seek to overcome barriers to widespread adoption.
The UAS-CLEAR is designed as a longitudinal study, enabling the observation of changes and emerging trends over time. This structure also provides flexibility to incorporate additional data collection in future waves, allowing the study to adapt and deepen insights based on baseline findings.
UAS-CLEAR Sample Snapshot
As of April 10, 2026, the UAS-CLEAR baseline study had collected data from 1,440 informal adult caregivers of adults aged 50 and older. These caregivers are mostly female (66%), over age 50 (63%), and have completed at least some college or an associate degree (77%). Just over a quarter of these caregivers (25.8%) reported that they care for someone with memory issues, such as mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Caregivers were asked about their use of different technologies for caregiving, including scheduling assistants, health trackers, AI applications (e.g., Claude, ChatGPT), and video and audio monitoring systems.
The a2 Collective Coordinating Center looks forward to continued collaboration with the UAS-CLEAR team and to sharing actionable insights for AgeTech developers.
NIA is one of 27 Institutes and Centers of the National Institutes of Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The a2 Collective is funded through NIA grants U24AG073094 (the a2 Collective Coordinating Center), P30AG073104 (JH AITC), P30AG073105 (PennAITech), and P30AG073107 (MassAITC).
References
1. Kapteyn, A., Angrisani, M., Darling, J., & Gutsche, T. (2024). The Understanding America Study (UAS). BMJ Open, 14(10), e088183. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-088183
