To start off my research for my dissertation I have arranged to meet up with a few people who have worked in the field of designing for dementia. My first meeting was with Gary Gowans, a graphic design tutor at DJCAD. He worked on producing a computer programme ‘CIRCA connect‘ which used reminiscence therapy to help those with dementia. Here is what we talked about:
How did you decide to embark on the project?
We started out with a fact-finding mission within the different faculties. Liaising with the school of computing and the school of psychology. Each department faculty members demonstrated their various skills and interests, highlighting any connections and possible collaboration opportunities.
I had an interest in work Norman Alm from the school of computing had done previously with assisted technology for communication. That’s where the idea started, a kind of electronic scrapbook incorporating reminiscence therapy. The psychologists contributed their expertise in dementia communication.
How did you do research for the project?
We did studies and field-testing within care environments. A main part of the research was weather to use personalised or generic content within the product. The content is made up of music, videos, and photographs. We were weighing up the success of each type based on the reactions we were seeing in the people using the product. With the personalised content there was concern that people may not be able to recognise faces of family or friends, which could cause stress and anxiety. People may feel ashamed or like they are being quizzed. What we wanted to do instead was show them something that jogged memories, something like a cobbled street that would remind them of a related time in their life. The idea of the product is to ignite conversation.
Using generic content also means that there is no need to be constantly updating the system for new users.
How did you get in touch with the care and service providers?/Were you able to talk to those who had the illness too?
There were ready-made channels to go through because of the psychologist, who had long standing contact with caregivers. We also went through social services, which gave us access to care institutions locally. We used private institutions mostly, in fife, Dundee and Oxford too. We spoke to Alzheimer’s Scotland and the UK branch too as an advisory group.
It wasn’t really necessary to speak to those with the illness; it was more about observing how they interacted with the programme. We were monitoring the relationships and interaction. We used human interaction software as well, that takes note of things like eye contact, laughter and so on. We had people telling stories that their families had never heard before, which is a fantastic result.
We produced a game too, called Lim. That was designed for people with mid range dementia. We observed how they were performing and the more they used it the more they improved. We found that people were kept engaged for long periods of time.
How did you overcome the issue of people not being adept with technology?
The programme runs on touch screens and the interface is designed to be as intuitive as possible. The initial assumption was that the carers would run the system but actually it turned out that people were able to use it themselves. You could never get lost in the system, there are always more easy to navigate options on screen. The programme created intrigue and made the user want to explore further. There were people who had never used a computer before who were able to do it themselves easily, which also incorporated a sense of achievement.
I think the most important things from this interview were; the use of generic content to avoid any distress caused by being unable to recognise faces or places, and also to cut out the need for constant updates to the system. Also Peoples ability to learn to use the system really quickly and the good feelings this achievement created. I think that a person mood and well being can have a massive affect on their overall health and state of mind.
A big thanks to Gary Gowans for taking the time to chat with me.
Marigold 