14 January 2009

Technology with a personality for dementia care

The University of Dundee and Balhousie Care Group have formed a unique partnership to create an innovative use of touchscreens and multimedia to enhance the care of people with dementia.

The partnership has created a new PhD Studentship within the School of Computing at the University, building on existing research excellence in developing technology to help older people.

People with dementia who are living in a residential home can be very difficult for new staff , or even experienced staff, to get to know because their communication is limited, sometimes almost nonexistent. Yet without exception these people have led lives full of incident and relationships, jobs, hobbies, awards, and interesting experiences. In order to fully establish communication, carers must know about these past histories of the people under their care, which can be very difficult to achieve.

'Establishing communication between carers and people with dementia is an important issue with vital implications for their welfare,' said Dr Norman Alm, Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing . 'In cases where it is possible to form greater links with those in their care, carers are better able to interact with the person as a whole personality, and not just a set of needs to be serviced.'

The three-year project between the School and Balhousie will research and develop software that can act as an external communications bridge between carers and people with dementia through the creation of simple but effective 'external personalities'. These will take the form of an interactive multimedia presentation that will contain biographical and personal information relevant to a particular person with dementia. 'If even a flavour of information like this could be made available quickly and easily to busy staff it would help immensely in the quality of care they could give,' said Dr Alm.

Gemma Webster (22), from Dundee, has been awarded the PhD studentship to take up this challenge. Gemma is a graduate from the School of Computing at Dundee, and has an interest in developing technology to help older people.

'I am really looking forward to learning about the communication problems of people with dementia and working with Balhousie Care Group staff to find a way to help staff in residential homes to get to know people with dementia better and more quickly. I think this would be a great application of some of the latest touchscreen and multimedia technology,' said Gemma.

Tony Banks, Director of Balhousie Care Group, is delighted at the creation of this studentship. 'We at Balhousie are keen to improve our practice and linking up with the University is an ideal way to keep us on our toes, as well as helping much needed research in this area.'

NOTE TO EDITORS

• Balhousie Care Group is based in Forfar and owns and manages 16 homes
• There are over 500 residents in Balhousie residential and nursing homes across Central and North Scotland.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk