Healthcare
Connecting Alzheimer’s residents and their families
How might we foster more connection between Alzheimer’s residents and their families during
times of visits?
The Challenge
In collaboration with Czorny Alzheimer’s Centre, this project looked at building connections between Alzheimer’s residents and their families to facilitate a more meaningful connection while visiting
A lack of engagement plays a critical role in the day of a resident who often suffers from depression, loneliness and boredom, and current tools meant to bring joy and engagement to residents living with Alzheimer’s Disease can be ineffective. These physical tools can be childish, unengaging and do not adapt well to different stages of the Disease. In the same respect, when family members visit residents who are affected by Alzheimer’s Disease, they are apprehensive to engage with them, which means a lot of the time no engagement actually happens. Instead, both parties can come out confused, frustrated and discouraged. This un-constructive experience plays a critical role in the day of the residents and can result in depression, mood changes and apathy.
The Approach
The research centred around understanding the challenges families had with engaging their loved-ones who suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease during times of visit.
I conducted ten in-depth interviews with individuals whose loved ones have been affected by Alzheimer’s Disease. Additionally, I ran co-creation sessions with family members and staff, who worked at Czorny Alzheimer’s centre, to better understand the challenges that exist with the disease, and how to adapt activities during times of visits. Lastly, after initial ideation, with permission from families, we engaged residents with activities on the Ipads, to better understand the ability and interest levels of the residents. A literature review was also conducted and looked at well-known methods of Alzheimer’s care including play therapy and reminiscence therapy.
The Result
Together is an award-winning interactive concept that brings light, laughter and positivity to a time that can be uncertain and overwhelming.
By combining two well-known methods of Alzheimer’s care, play therapy and reminiscence therapy, Together combines curated photographs and media to create personalized and meaningful activities for families and residents to engage in together.
