Best Designs for Comfortable Eating

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Alzheimer's and Dementia Weekly

Transcript

This year, I have been working with BUPA (British Healthcare) to improve the quality of eating for elder people with dementia in care.

Although dementia is not limited to older people, the chances of getting a form of dementia increase with age. Recent figures suggest that as much as one in three people over the age of 65 will be affected in their lifetime.

There are currently an estimated 700,00 people in the United Kingdom with dementia, over a third of which live in care homes.

In a recent interview with the Alzheimer's Society, Barbara Pointon said that the brain controls absolutely everything that we do, think and say. When that master computer goes wrong, it cannot be mended. The whole body starts to disintegrate.

In care homes across the country, you will find some of the most extraordinary people who daily have to overcome high levels of mental disability, physical disability and dependency.

This year, with the help of BUPA, we have humbly entered the world of care to understand it more deeply and see what role design can play.

I adopted an immersive research method which included background reading, interviews with residents, interviews with carers, and observation. I also attended carer training.

A resident remarked to me last week, "I may be an invalid, but I do not want to be treated as one."

It has been our aspiration to improve the lives of older people with dementia in care, and use design even in the smallest way to help them live at the highest level of their ability.

The focus this year has been on eating in particular, that is, assistive technologies. Today, I am going to briefly talk about some of the prototypes completed and that you will be able to see on this website.

There are plenty of assistive technologies on the market, but few have been specifically designed for the care environment.

This means they have some basic failings. They don't stack, they age badly, or they make the food look un-appetizing.

As a result, they don't fit in a commercial kitchen, people don't buy them, or if they do, they get frustrated and throw them out because they are not doing their job.

The negative side of this is that residents are not getting the tools they need to retain their eating skills for longer.

So I have adapted some of the tried-and-tested features already on the market and looked at how they could be used to improve existing tableware.

go to Best Designs for Comfortable Eating for the video