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Keywords:

dementia, environment, interviews; semistructured, lived experience, self, Science & Technology, Social Sciences, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Technology, Public, Environmental & Occupational Health, Information Science & Library Science, Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary, Social Sciences, Biomedical, Social Sciences - Other Topics, Biomedical Social Sciences, interviews, semistructured, interviews, semistructured, 11 Medical and Health Sciences, 16 Studies in Human Society, 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Nursing, 42 Health sciences, 44 Human society

Abstract:

With the case study presented in this article, we explore how people with dementia experience and use their environment to expand our understanding of how architectural environments can improve their well-being. We focus on how relationships between people and spaces change for people with dementia. Using a qualitative analysis of three in-depth interviews with a woman who is living with dementia, we obtained an insider’s perspective and a rich account of the changes in her life, including her lived experiences and interventions in her home environment. We contend that looking at people with dementia in relation to and interaction with their environment, combined with an explorative research approach, might reveal multiple and innovative possibilities in designing for people with dementia. To that end, and to build on existing architectural expertise, we suggest focusing on architectural ordering principles across different cases.