Evaluating an App to Promote a Better Visit Through Shared Activities for People Living with Dementia and their Families

Title of the Paper

Evaluating an App to Promote a Better Visit Through Shared Activities for People Living with Dementia and their Families

Paper Information

• Subject Area: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Dementia Care
• Keywords: Dementia, Person-Centered Care, App Evaluation, Dyadic Interaction, Game Design, Social Experience, Aged Care, Touchscreen Technology, Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis

Research Background and Problem

• Identified Problem: Interaction between people living with dementia and their family members can be hindered by communication barriers, often making family visits awkward or exhausting. Furthermore, many existing activities focus solely on the person with dementia, neglecting the need for mutual interaction and shared experiences.
• Significance: Positive interactions with people living with dementia can improve their quality of life, enhance the sense of involvement for visitors, and alleviate negative emotions such as guilt and sadness.
• Research Motivation: The authors aim to use technology to facilitate shared activities between people with dementia and their relatives or caregivers, improving the visiting experience beyond the mere usability of technology or traditional task-based evaluations.

Solution

• Proposed Approach: Developed a mobile application called "A Better Visit" designed for people with dementia and their visitors. The app includes eight game activities categorized into cooperative and competitive games.
• Innovations:
  • The app design is based on the interests, abilities, and psychological needs of both people with dementia and their visitors.
  • Focuses not only on usability but also on enhancing social interaction and active participation for people with dementia.
  • The games incorporate music and visual design to support participation across different stages of dementia.
• Implementation Steps and Key Technologies:
  1. Adopted a co-design approach, collaborating with key stakeholders (people with dementia, family members, and caregivers) to develop the app.
  2. The core of the app design is to create dyadic interaction experiences through touchscreen technology, including features for collaboration, competition, and conversation facilitation.
  3. Conducted a three-month evaluation across four care centers, combining qualitative interviews and data log analysis to study the app's real-world effectiveness.

Research Findings

• Specific Outcomes:
  • People with dementia and their visitors exhibited varying preferences for the games, with most participants finding games that matched their interests.
  • The games facilitated interaction between visitors and people with dementia, such as discussions, laughter, and eye contact.
  • Certain games demonstrated exceptional effectiveness in prompting conversations and triggering memories.
• Comparative Advantages: The app design emphasizes interactivity and experience, aligning with the interests and skills of people with dementia, surpassing the functionality of traditional assistive technologies by enhancing the quality of interaction with others.
• Experimental and Evaluation Results:
  • Preferences for games among people with dementia evolved over the three-month period. Some games, such as Traces and Tic Tac Tango, were particularly popular.
  • Data log analysis revealed a strong correlation between game usage time and user interest, while qualitative data highlighted the positive experiences derived from these interactions.
• Limitations and Future Directions:
  • Limitations:
    • Inconsistencies in user login information during data collection impacted the accuracy of interaction data.
    • Quantitative data from game activity evaluations struggled to directly capture the quality of social interactions.
    • The progression of dementia and its impact on skills and game preferences require further investigation.
    • The complexity of relationships between people with dementia and their visitors posed challenges to the effectiveness of the technology.
  • Future Directions:
    • Develop more flexible and adaptive interactive games tailored to individual abilities.
    • Explore how technology can support assessments of dementia progression at different stages.
    • Design educational and training modules to help visitors better engage in interactions.
    • Enhance the role of technology in improving relationships between people with dementia and their visitors.

Conclusion

This study provides practical and theoretical insights into how an app can improve the visiting experience for people with dementia and their visitors through dyadic interactive games. It highlights new opportunities for technology design and evaluation in HCI research while emphasizing the importance of designing person-centered social activities.