Hi,
As a Final Year Product Design student with personal experience in caring for a relative with Dementia, I strive to come up with a product or service for family care givers of people with Dementia.
You become a carer before you know it and through research I notice that there is a serious lack of attention paid to the family care giver. I believe that if the right support and caring is given to the caregiver, better care will be provided for the person with Dementia.
I have read through these forums for weeks gaining valuable insights and commonalities in problems.
My first Question is, As a family caregiver, excluding respite, what do you currently do for yourself in relation to self care to get a break from constantly caring for someone else? What kind of activity or product do you think would be beneficial to you as a carer to improve your own health mentally or physically?
I have come up with a few ideas such as interactive bucket list generation where the person with dementia (early stages after acceptance) thinks and records all the things they may want to do or experience therefore the family can help them to do so and keep a sentimental record of these events when they are ticked off.
A jar to be filled with memories by the family each time the person with Dementia mentions something to be remembered (funny, proud, childhood memories). These ideas act firstly as an activity for caregiver and person with Dementia to do together and secondly have high sentimental value for when the person with Dementia passes away.
The emotional strain on family care givers is something I feel passionate designing for, So my Question to Care givers is, from experience what kind of things do you wish you had such as activities to do with your relative with dementia or things to remember them by when they pass away?
All comments, thoughts, advice and criticism will be much appreciated! Thank You!
As a Final Year Product Design student with personal experience in caring for a relative with Dementia, I strive to come up with a product or service for family care givers of people with Dementia.
You become a carer before you know it and through research I notice that there is a serious lack of attention paid to the family care giver. I believe that if the right support and caring is given to the caregiver, better care will be provided for the person with Dementia.
I have read through these forums for weeks gaining valuable insights and commonalities in problems.
My first Question is, As a family caregiver, excluding respite, what do you currently do for yourself in relation to self care to get a break from constantly caring for someone else? What kind of activity or product do you think would be beneficial to you as a carer to improve your own health mentally or physically?
I have come up with a few ideas such as interactive bucket list generation where the person with dementia (early stages after acceptance) thinks and records all the things they may want to do or experience therefore the family can help them to do so and keep a sentimental record of these events when they are ticked off.
A jar to be filled with memories by the family each time the person with Dementia mentions something to be remembered (funny, proud, childhood memories). These ideas act firstly as an activity for caregiver and person with Dementia to do together and secondly have high sentimental value for when the person with Dementia passes away.
The emotional strain on family care givers is something I feel passionate designing for, So my Question to Care givers is, from experience what kind of things do you wish you had such as activities to do with your relative with dementia or things to remember them by when they pass away?
All comments, thoughts, advice and criticism will be much appreciated! Thank You!
