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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Guiding design of dementia friendly environments in residential care settings
— considering the living experiences | | Author(s) | Sandra Davis, Suzanne Byers, Rhonda Nay |
| Journal title | Dementia: the international journal of social research and practice, vol 8, no 2, May 2009 |
| Pages | pp 185-204 |
| Source | http://www.dem.sagepub.com |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Environmental aesthetics ; Architectural design ; Care homes ; Nursing homes ; Australia. |
| Annotation | In the past twenty years, the importance of the physical and social environments in supporting the person with dementia has gained a much higher profile in dementia care. Despite efforts to move aged care away from the medical model to a more balanced social model of care, we still struggle with the dominance of an institutional context which impedes individuality and choice. This article argues that the experience of the person with dementia should frame the perspective brought to both design and the philosophy of care - in essence, "looking out from the inside". Shifting the emphasis from "condition" to "experience" encourage the culture change needed to create environments that allow the person with dementia to be an active participant in everyday life rather than a passive recipient of care. Based on the development of a resource for residential and respite facilities in Australia, seven living experiences are identified: the presentation of self-experience; eating experience; personal enjoyment experience; bedroom experience; family and community connectiveness experience; end-of-life experience; and staff experience. Each is discussed to show how considerations of the living experiences provides a way to focus thinking for design of the built environment to practically support the person with dementia, thereby examining a wider spectrum of issues in creating a dementia friendly physical and social environment from the perspective of the person with dementia. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-090702202 A |
| Classmark | EA: R7: YB3: KW: LHB: 7YA |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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