Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Dundee
Enabling Self, Intimacy and a Sense of Home in Dementia : An Enquiry into Design in a Hospital Setting
An enquiry into design for dementia facilitated by a public art commission for an NHS adult mental health unit specialising in severe dementia in a hospital in the UK. Design and digital technologies to support a sense of self and human relationships for people living with dementia are both urgently needed. However approaches from Design or Human Computer Interaction rarely focus on understanding people in the extreme context of severe dementia and particularly within a hospital setting. We made digitally interactive furniture pieces for permanent use in the hospital unit to support: clients’ sense of self, connection to local culture (as an anchor to self) and clients’ interactions with staff and family.
The pieces were informed by engagement with hospital staff, to gain in-depth understanding of clients, staff practice and care environment. The notion of personhood (Kitwood 1997) that foregrounds the person's social being and interpersonal relationships as sites where self is maintained and constructed underpinned the research. The designed artefacts served as a window on both dementia and the institution and the genuine reciprocal communications between staff and clients in using the pieces were reported by staff as both rare and highly valued described by the ward manager to have had a “global impact on staff practice”.
The contribution lies in the dynamics and challenges in the hospital setting that were revealed, which give us a new, nuanced and multi-textured understand of severe dementia and staff-client exchanges. The themes of personhood, intimacy, sense of self and home were shown to be guides to enable design in this space. We revealed how the pieces enabled: staff to gain new ‘ways in’ with challenging clients; richer, more balanced forms of communication between staff and clients; staff to extend their current practice of engagement and how technology nurtured and supported these exchanges.
