‘Voices from Care Homes’ – Café Science event on Monday, 30th March

Published On Wed 25 Mar 2015 by Grant Hill

With changes in population demographics resulting in a growing number of care homes, economic, health and ethical considerations demand the creation of an enabling built environment to provide older adults with healthy and socially fulfilling lives.

Dr Lesley McIntyre from the University of Dundee is part of a team who are carrying out research to tackle this challenge. She will talk about her work at the next Café Science event at Avery & Co, South Tay Street, on Monday, 30th March.

‘Voices from Care Homes: Gathering evidence for better building design’ is the next Café Science event and takes place at Avery & Co, South Tay Street, on Monday, 30th March.

Dr McIntyre is part of the BESiDE (Built Environment for Social Inclusion through the Digital Economy) project to measure physical activity, and trace and model movement within homes. The objective is to generate evidence of what is needed in the future of care home design to better support older adults in maintaining their wellbeing, independence, mobility and quality of life.

“What would you want and need if you lived in a care home?” she asked. “WiFi, natural light and colour, privacy and your own front door may be the things you would want and understanding how to create such environments remains a key challenge.

“In my talk, I will give an overview of BESiDE’s research findings and discuss plans of how this new knowledge will be disseminated into design practice. It will be of interest to anyone concerned with themes of ageing, wellbeing, technology, independence, and mobility within the built environment.”

Café Science was launched in January 2008, and has attracted more than 6000 visitors since then. The monthly events are informal discussions led by leading local researchers that allow members of the public the opportunity to learn more about the ground-breaking science happening locally.

‘Voices from Care Homes: Gathering evidence for better building design’ takes place at Avery & Co, South Tay Street, at 7pm on Monday, 30th March. The event is free and open to all and there is no need to book in advance but an early arrival is recommended.

More information is available at www.cafesciencedundee.co.uk.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
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