Creating a consumer-driven global community of practice to support action within environmental design with people living with dementia: assistive technology challenges and opportunities

Emily Ong; Dennis Frost; Saskia Kuliga; Natasha Layton; Jacki Liddle

doi:10.1071/IB23022

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Creating a consumer-driven global community of practice to support action within environmental design with people living with dementia: assistive technology challenges and opportunities

Emily Ong ^A , Dennis Frost ^B ^C , Saskia Kuliga ^D ^E , Natasha Layton ^F ^G ^H and Jacki Liddle

^I ^J ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Dementia Alliance International: Environmental Design Special Interest Group, TX, USA

^B Dementia Australia: Dementia Australiaâ€™s Advisory Committee, Sydney, NSW, Australia

^C Dementia Friendly Kiama Advocacy Group, Kiama, NSW, Australia

^D German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Witten, Germany

^E University of Witten/Herdecken, Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Health, Witten, Germany

^F Australian Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Association, Beaumaris, VIC, Australia

^G Monash University: Rehabilitation Ageing and Independent Living (RAIL) Research Centre, Frankston, VIC, Australia

^H Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia

^I School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, and School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia

^J Princess Alexandra Hospital: Occupational Therapy Department and Centre for Functioning and Health Research, Queensland Health, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia

^* Correspondence to: j.liddle@uq.edu.au

Brain Impairment 24(2) 219-228 https://doi.org/10.1017/BrImp.2023.4

Submitted: 16 May 2022 Accepted: 8 January 2023 Published: 20 February 2023

© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The environment, and assistive technologies as part of this, can play an important role in supporting the participation and wellbeing of people living with dementia. If not considered, environments can be overwhelming and disempowering. Disability approaches including environmental considerations and assistive technology were often not offered routinely with people living with dementia. Concerned by this, dementia advocates aimed to create change in this area. The Environmental Design-Special Interest Group (ED-SiG) of Dementia Alliance International was developed as an international consumer-driven community of practice bringing together people with different relevant expertise including living experience (people living with dementia, care partners), architecture and design, occupational therapy, rehabilitation and care provision. This practice opinion piece provides an overview of dementia, the need for collaborative practices within practice with people living with dementia, and the considerations of assistive technology, environmental design and the global context. The reflection provides insights into this international community of practice, with personal reflections of members with living experience of dementia, and benefits and opportunities in considering environmental design and assistive technology from the perspectives of members. This work demonstrates and advocates collaborations that centre the perspectives and expertise of people living with dementia.

Keywords: Dementia, assistive technology, consumer, community of practice.

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