Dear All,
This is my first contribution to the list having just embarked on a
EPSRC funded research project on designing the external physical
environment to improve the quality of life for older people with
dementia.
Design for dementia tends to concentrate on the internal, generally
institutional, environment, yet the Dementia Services Development Centre
at Stirling University estimated that in 1995, 80% of people with
dementia were living in the community, with 23% living alone.
Furthermore, many of the daily difficulties encountered by older people
appear to be caused more by insensitive planning and local environmental
circumstances than by health problems.
The intention of this project, mainly through interviews and
observation, is to seek an understanding of how older people with
dementia perceive and utilise their local external environments and to
identify specific obstacles and aids thereby encountered. The main
intended outcome is a design guide listing criteria to consider in
ensuring that urban areas are accessible to older people with dementia
in order to enahnce and extend their active participation in society.
Research involving people with dementia raises a number of ethical
issues such as informed consent and the use of assessment tests, while
researchers wishing to interview a person with dementia must possess a
sensitivity and respect for that person's particular anxieties and fears
regarding his/her uncertain future. I would be very pleased to receive
the thoughts and comments of other list members regarding these issues
in particular and the project in general.
Thanks,
Lynne Mitchell
Oxford Centre for Sustainable Development: Cities
School of Architecture
Oxford Brookes University
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