Background: Scalable dementia care remains a global challenge, particularly in aging societies with limited healthcare resources. Technology-assisted home care has emerged as a potential solution; however, the extent to which human support enhances its effectiveness remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the incremental effects of varying levels of human support in a technology-assisted home care model on cognitive outcomes in patients with dementia.

Methods: A four-group pretest-posttest design was employed. Participants were assigned to one of four groups: (1) technology-only home care, (2) caregiver-supported home care, (3) caregiver plus rehabilitation therapist-supported home care, and (4) a control group. Cognitive function was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Linear mixed-effects models were applied to examine group-by-time interactions while accounting for repeated measures and unbalanced group sizes.

Results: A significant group-by-time interaction was observed for MoCA total scores. Compared with the control group, the caregiver-supported group demonstrated significantly greater cognitive improvement (β = 3.63, p = 0.001). The caregiver plus rehabilitation therapist group also showed notable improvement (β = 3.00), although statistical significance was marginal (p = 0.064), likely due to a smaller sample size. In contrast, the technology-only group did not exhibit significant changes. Descriptive findings indicated that cognitive gains increased with the level of human support.

Conclusion: Technology-assisted home care alone may be insufficient to produce meaningful improvement of cognition. The addition of human support, particularly long-term caregiver involvement, significantly enhances intervention effectiveness. These findings highlight a dose-response relationship between human support and cognitive outcomes, suggesting that hybrid care models integrating technology with human interaction may offer a scalable and effective approach for dementia care.