Multidimensional Design Research for Dementia and its Methodological Opportunities for Cross-Disciplinary Consortia

Dementia is one of the most common causes of disability among older adults. The design of supportive IT applications requires an understanding of the multitude of individual challenges faced by people living with dementia, as well as the knowledge of the condition per se. A scaffolding design process and the inclusion of appropriate experts might be the key. Our research for a supportive IT application for the early stages of dementia has shown a set of issues that should be taken into consideration; stakeholders’ own strategies for remembering, technological literacy levels, particular opportunities to support information, orientation and organization of users’ every day and a careful and realistic choice for design methods taking the possibilities of cross-disciplinary as well as international consortiums into account. The main contribution of this paper is a set of methodological recommendations, encapsulated by the following four themes: coherence, ownership, experiential knowledge and generative tools.