Towards Dementia-Friendly Society: Design and Interactive Technologies for Collaborative Caregiving and Personalised Non-pharmacological Therapy

Abstract: The speed of aging has been increasing and therefore the demand for products/services which would align to elderly people has been getting higher. With the synchronization of aging, the number of people with dementia has been increasing rapidly and it puts a burden on not only people with dementia but also stakeholders and the entire world. Dementia non-pharmacological therapy is one of the most feasible interventions and it includes cognitive, sensory, and psychosocial therapies.Research Problem: Family caregiver's low accessibility to patient-centred dementia non-pharmacological therapy has caused the low quality of caregiving to people with dementia, the increasing of caregiver's emotional/physical distress, and the low transparency of dementia to medical experts.Research Question: How can design and interactive technologies make dementia therapy more personalised to patients, accessible to caregivers, and transparent to medical experts?Research Aim: Explore the possibility of design and interactive technologies for dementia non-pharmacological therapy.Hypothesis: Giving dementia non-pharmacological therapy more stimulations, playfulness and meaning by design and interactive technology would be beneficial to make it more patient-centred and empower informal caregivers.Methodologies: The research is mainly based on Design Thinking methodology, DICE approach, and Constructive design wheel. The research is preceded with qualitative methods such as questionnaires, interviews, brainstorming, physical and digital prototyping and expert reviews. Conclusions: The research would contribute to the enhancement of dementia therapeutic intervention research and therefore the quality of life in people with dementia.

Keywords: Human, Centred Design, Dementia Non, pharmacological Therapy, Human, Computer Interaction, Tangible User Interface, Speech Emotion Recognition

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1003344

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