Transcript Design for Dementia - East Sussex County Council

Design for Dementia
How can design make a difference?
• Experiencing dementia
• The key principles
• The impact of design on behaviour
• Examples in practice
• What changes could you make?
Marney Walker, Senior Practitioner OT, Extra Care and Supported Housing
Housing Commissioning Team, Adult Social Care
Experiencing Dementia
“My granny was not able to remember if she had any milk, or eaten her dinner, but
she taught me some really complicated knitting patterns that she learnt when she
was my age.”
DSDC (2010)10 Helpful hints for dementia design at home
Experiencing Dementia:
Cognitive Processing and Sensory Impairments
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The ability to integrate visual, and auditory information is affected
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The physical and social environment can be perceived as unfamiliar and disturbing
Experiencing Dementia: Risk of Falls
Combined with factors typical in ageing:(weak muscles, joint pain, and poor eyesight)
Older people with dementia are more likely to have abnormalities in gait due to limited
ability to compensate for the impact of mobility impairments
People with dementia are:
• Twice as likely to fall
• 3 x as likely to fracture
• Have a poorer prognosis
• Spend longer in hospital
• 5 x more likely to become
institutionalized
Experiencing Dementia: Behaviour
• Feelings of disorientation, frustration, bewilderment, humiliation are common
• Restlessness and Wandering can be due to:
- Forgetting where you are going
- Feeling lost, feeling hot
- Being in pain
- Needing the toilet
• Agitation at feeling imprisoned
• Humiliation : being unable to
understand how to use toilet flush,
or tap
• Withdrawal from noise
Design for dementia : Key principles
A sense of home
Access to outdoors
Way finding and signage
Lighting and tonal contrast
How can design make a difference?
• Improve quality of life
• Alleviate symptoms and
reduce stress levels
• Maximise independence
• Reduce the need for
supervision
Case example in an acute setting
What difference does it make?: Evidence
• Better lighting
• Consistent flooring
• Better contrast to skirting,
hand rails, toilet seats
• Emphasized and concealed
doors
• Signage
Results:
• 40% less falls
• 60% less near misses
• No absconders
• Calmer atmosphere
• Less anti-psychotics
Visual perception : Things to avoid
Patterns that can be perceived
as 3D or moving, on floor
coverings, furnishings, crockery
Shiny reflective surfaces that create glare
and create confusing reflections
Lighting and tonal contrast
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Light to twice ‘normal’ levels
Use domestic style fittings.
Use daylight wherever possible.
Expose people to the 24-hour cycle of light and dark
Tonal Contrast
Using tonal contrast
Highlight
Disguise
Being able to find things: labels
Being able to find things: labels
Keeping things in view
• Glass fronted cupboards
• Cupboards without doors
• Shelves
• Clear see-through storage jars
• Open front or labeled drawers
Keeping things in view
Access to outdoors
• Exercise keeps bones strong and reduces likelihood of falls
• Exposure to natural light : Vitamin D deficiency is associated with:
o Impaired cognition
o Low mood
• Daily exposure to daylight can reduce disturbed sleep
Access to outdoors
Garden design blueprint :Design Research Centre Richmond University
What changes could you make?
Design for Dementia Virtual Home
http://dementia.stir.ac.uk/virtualhome
Dementia Services Development Centre,
Stirling University
• What do you do already?
• What works well?
• What changes could you make?