Hi everyone,

I am currently focusing my final year project on Dementia as due to having personal experience within my family, I would love to design a product to help Dementia patients and their relatives/carers in some way.

I have done a large amount of research and narrowed my topic down to designing a product that will ease anxiety and agitation in Dementia patients once they first move into a care home. From conducting primary research and from experiences that I have seen personally, the stress that a Dementia sufferer experiences from changing their living environment can lead to agitation and restless hands, which causes a large amount of stress and discomfort for the patient and also their family and carers.

I am aiming to design a kit focusing on sensory stimulation, that will potentially have different fidget tools inside to aid in calming, with the hope of easing their restless hands and stress, and therefore hopefully preventing further health problems such as insomnia.

If anyone has any feedback or opinions on this idea, I would be very grateful to hear what you have to say.
All replies will be kept anonymous and will only be used as inspiration for my project!

Thank you!
Holly

 

Hi all, thank you so much for your responses so far!

I am trying to narrow down my project whilst keeping your advice in mind.

I have am now thinking of aiming to design a product focusing on sensory stimulation. I know that there are many DIY and branded fidget muffs and fidget cushions out there in the market, however from conducting some primary research I have found that some Dementia patients find them quite childish and do not make full use of their potential. I would love to be able to change this by designing an improved sensory product, potentially a sensory flower or a sensory nature pad. This will be able to incorporate a love for nature and the outdoors, with sensory stimulation using touch, sight and hearing. I am thinking of petals/wings that can open up and be personalised with the user's personal items, potentially things that will remind them of their families/home. Materials used will all be soft fabrics to provide comfort and there could be different fidget/fiddle elements on it to remind the user of nature.

I would like this to be different to be almost a re-design of the original style of fidget muffs/cushions, using bright colours with a nature theme. I love the idea of the PWD being able to personalise it, with photos of family etc.

Would be very grateful if any of you have some more opinions on this.

Thank you!
Holly

 

Thank you for this Will definitely look into doing that, it is a great idea!

 

Thanks for your reply

Haven't seen this one before, however i'm aiming to make my project fairly different to that. As that one is already on the market, I may try and steer it away from the flower and come up with another shape for mine

 

Thank you for your reply Yes, I have researched existing products currently on the market. I would like to be able to design something that will be inspired by and in some way re-design the traditional dementia products that are currently on sale

 

Thank you so much, this is all very helpful info! Will definitely be taking this into consideration when designing!

 

Thank you

 

Hi all,

Thank you for all your help and assistance so far through my research.

From doing further research and developed I have decided to design a sensory book for Dementia patients who have just moved into a care home. This will mainly focus on nature.

Current quiet/sensory items on the market for Dementia, [including homemade items such as Etsy products], seem to be very brightly coloured and childish, which from doing primary and secondary research I have seen that this can make the person with Dementia not want to use the product.

The book (made entirely from fabric, velvet, felt, soft materials etc) is intended to give the user reminiscence of flipping through a photo book. It will have much more of a mature look but still be suitable for them. Each double spread will have a sensory scene on the right page and a plastic slot for the family/carers to add a photo in that could possibly remind them of a family time at a place similar to the sensory scene, aiding memory. The sensory page will aid in preventing anxiety, restless hands and agitation.

The family can change the photos/personal messages potentially each time they visit/every couple of weeks to allow an element of surprise for their relative when they are not with them.

I was playing with the idea of adding an element in which could prevent warmth and more relaxation for the user. I looked into lavender wheat bags which you can take out of the product, put in the microwave to warm them up and then re-insert.

I also thought of having one page at the back of the book that would allow the user to create their own scene. This page would have a big velcro square (the soft side) and potentially in activity sessions the person with dementia could create their own elements to stick onto their page with velcro and change this up whenever they would like. They could add their own photos/personal items if they fancied.

Opinions on this new idea would be very much appreciated!

Thank you so much!
Holly

 

From doing further research and developed I have decided to design a sensory book for Dementia patients who have just moved into a care home. This will mainly focus on nature.

Current quiet/sensory items on the market for Dementia, [including homemade items such as Etsy products], seem to be very brightly coloured and childish, which from doing primary and secondary research I have seen that this can make the person with Dementia not want to use the product.

The book (made entirely from fabric, velvet, felt etc) is intended to give the user reminiscence of flipping through a photo book. It will have much more of a mature look but still be suitable for them. Each double spread will have a sensory scene on the right page and a plastic slot for the family/carers to add a photo in that could possibly remind them of a family time at a place similar to the sensory scene, aiding memory. The sensory page will aid in preventing anxiety, restless hands and agitation.

The family can change the photos/personal messages potentially each time they visit/every couple of weeks to allow an element of surprise for their relative when they are not with them.

I was playing with the idea of adding an element in which could prevent warmth and more relaxation for the user. I looked into lavender wheat bags which you can take out of the product, put in the microwave to warm them up and then re-insert.

I also thought of having one page at the back of the book that would allow the user to create their own scene. This page would have a big velcro square (the soft side) and potentially in activity sessions the person with dementia could create their own elements to stick onto their page with velcro and change this up whenever they would like. They could add their own photos/personal items if they fancied.

Opinions on this new idea would be very much appreciated!

Thank you so much!
Holly

 

Hi all,

Thanks for your feedback so far. I have finally made the final product and would love some feedback on it from some of you if possible.

I have designed the ForgetMeNot Sensory Book.

This sensory book is made up of different scenes relating to nature, and these are made entirely from soft materials such as cotton, felt and velvet, to provide comfort and ease restless hands for the user. It is designed to be similar to a photo album as the relative can put in photos into the picture slots that potentially remind the user of a time that could relate to the nature scene next to it. I have seen with current homemade quiet books and sensory products and from doing primary research, they have a slight childish feel to them, which can make the user reject the product. I have tried to use fairly mature colour schemes throughout whilst still using some bright colours to overcome this.

There is a blank white page at the back which can allow activity coordinators in care homes to encourage residents to make their own small scenes/pictures up out of material/felt and stick them on using velcro, giving them the chance to make a new scene whenever they want to.

On the back cover, there is a small pocket holding a small lavender wheat pack. This can be heated by the carer in the microwave for one minute, and this can provide warmth and relaxation (due to the lavender scent) for the user whilst using the book. The book can provide a comforting network between the relatives, the carer and the resident as everyone plays a small part in it's use.

I made the final outcome entirely by myself using hand sewing and machine sewing. Photos are attached.

Any feedback that you may have on the final product would be wonderful!