Loughborough University
Browse
HEPS2016-JAIS.pdf (353.28 kB)

Developing personas for use in the design of dementia care environments

Download (353.28 kB)
conference contribution
posted on 2016-07-15, 10:35 authored by Charlotte Jais, Sue HignettSue Hignett, Ruby Allen, Eef HogervorstEef Hogervorst
Context: Dementia has a high global prevalence, and the number of people with dementia (PWDem) worldwide is expected to rise in coming years. The various symptoms associated with dementia can cause difficulties for PWDem when engaging with activities of daily living (ADLs) as the disease progresses. However, designing a care environment which enables PWDem to successfully engage with ADLs is not a simple task, in part because PWDem may find it difficult to communicate their needs to a design team. For this reason, design personas which aimed to represent PWDem at different stages of the disease were created as a means of communicating these needs to designers. This paper describes an evaluation study on these personas. Objectives: To consult design stakeholders and obtain feedback on the use of the personas in the process of designing a dementia care home. Methodology: Interviews and focus groups were used to obtain feedback on the personas. Main results: Participants suggested several improvements for the personas. These included (1) diagrams (images and symbols) rather than text, (2) focusing less on specific design guidance, and (3) including a wider range of symptoms and needs. Conclusion: The wide range of suggested changes from the participants indicated both engagement with, and potential for, the initial personas. The personas have been revised and will be tested in care homes to explore how far they accurately represent the needs of PWDem both with caregivers and PWDem.

History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

HEPS 2016

Citation

JAIS, C. ...et al., 2016. Developing personas for use in the design of dementia care environments. Presented at the Healthcare and Society: New Challenges, New Opportunities. International Conference on Healthcare Systems Ergonomics and Patient Safety (HEPS 2016), Toulouse, France, 5-7th Oct.

Publisher

© Heps 2016

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Acceptance date

2016-04-18

Publication date

2016

Notes

This is a conference paper.

Language

  • en

Location

Toulouse

Usage metrics

    Loughborough Publications

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC