Designing for well-being in late stage dementia
- Submitting institution
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Cardiff Metropolitan University / Prifysgol Metropolitan Caerdydd
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- AD139
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
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- Book title
- Pathways to Well-Being in Design: Examples from the Arts, Humanities and the Built Environment
- Publisher
- Routledge
- ISBN
- 9780815346951
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2019
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Research process
This book chapter presents research from the first phase of the AHRC funded LAUGH design research for advanced dementia. It describes a series of creative participatory workshops with dementia experts. The aim was to understand what constitutes wellbeing for someone with severe communication difficulties, memory impairment and altered perceptions, in order to create playful designs specifically to stimulate and support subjective wellbeing. The participatory workshops brought together practitioners from a range of disciplines, including health and social care, as well as informal carers and people living with dementia. Each workshop collected qualitative insights, practical knowledge and narratives concerning experiences of being in daily contact with people with advanced dementia. A range of qualitative data was captured using audio-visual technology, still photography and materials created during the workshops, including participant completed question cards and flipchart diagrams. The workshops explored playfulness, positive emotion, memory, craft and hand-use. The importance of Compassionate Design methodology to inform design for advanced dementia care is explained.
Research insights
Key findings from these workshops included: how sensory stimulation can promote ‘in the moment’ experience; an understanding of how emotional memory can be triggered via the senses, particularly music; ways in which activities using the hands can stimulate flow, pleasure and positive emotions. Six key themes: 1) nurturing, 2) security, 3) movement, 4) purposeful, 5) attention, 6) replay, emerged as being crucial for supporting wellbeing. Six playful objects developed from this research are presented to illustrate their association with these key themes and Compassionate Design.
Dissemination
This chapter was developed from one of 20 selected papers from WELL-BEING 2016: The Third International Conference Exploring the Multi-Dimensions of Well-Being, Birmingham City University, 2016. These early LAUGH project findings were also presented in conferences in Amsterdam (2016), Denmark (2016), Australia (2017) and UK (2016).
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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