Access to Everyday Activities in Public Space - Views of People With Dementia

Abstract

People with dementia value staying active and continuing with their everyday lives in public space, however there is a lack of knowledge about how they experience accessibility, problematic situations and how to manage these situations. The aim is to illuminate experiences of accessibility in public space in people with dementia with focus on places, activities and problematic situations. A Grounded theory approach was used in the thesis with multiple data collection methods (interviews, focus group interviews, observations and visual methods). Findings show that having access to everyday activities at different places in the neighbourhood was very important for the participants when they perceived themselves as being a part of the society and being active and independent persons. Engaging in familiar activities in familiar places was important. However, their activity radii in the community became smaller. The findings inspired the development of the questionnaire Participation in Activities and Places Outside Home.

Social Participation in Relation to Technology Use and Social Deprivation: A Mixed Methods Study Among Older People with and without Dementia

“…The ACT-OUT Questionnaire asks about the place and the journey in two discrete parts; however, according to the free text responses, the journey was described as an extension of the activity and as an opportunity to socialize with other people for various reasons (e.g., companionship, to give or to receive support). The results confirm earlier research, which identified social support as a potential strategy for managing problematic situations in public space among people with dementia [24]. Knowledge about social factors, such as social support to travel, is particularly important for participants with dementia, to facilitate a balance between capacities and limitations [2] and to enable continued social participation, following changes in their mode of participation (e.g., following driving cessation).…”

“…Research has shown that a person's experience of public space or places outside home is linked to the type of preparatory activities that were required in the home environment. In earlier research, people with dementia reported that staying in control of participation in public space can be inhibited, and anxiety can be exacerbated because performing preparatory activities, such as finding and taking essential items including keys, a wallet, or a phone, drained their energy reserves even before departing the home environment to engage in social participation in places within public space [24]. The results suggest that greater support given to older people with and without dementia in preparatory and wayfinding stages, for example, through support using ET to help preserve energy reserves and mitigate anxiety, or the design and development of more usable wayfinding and preparatory applications within the mainstream ET that older people already use, may help to assist their ongoing social participation [15].…”

“…Studies indicate that dependency on ET use can be a reoccurring issue in activities inside and outside home, which people with cognitive impairments (e.g., due to mild-stage dementia, MCI, or stroke) just like all people in society, wish to master [23]. Earlier, research demonstrated that ET use can be inhibitive for people with dementia's experience of accessibility in public space [24]. ET can be inhibitive to performing activities independently, for instance due to the replacement of human personnel in favor of self-service technologies [10,24].…”

“…Earlier, research demonstrated that ET use can be inhibitive for people with dementia's experience of accessibility in public space [24]. ET can be inhibitive to performing activities independently, for instance due to the replacement of human personnel in favor of self-service technologies [10,24]. Such technologies typically require a person to manage and remember several complex skills, including scanning a product, memorizing a code, and making a transaction using a credit card.…”

Everyday technologies and public space participation among people with and without dementia

“…Opportunities exist for occupational therapists in enabling participation in places and activities to support well-being as a human right (Whalley Hammell, 2017). The majority of people with dementia live in the community, which means they not only reside in their homes but also participate in a range of activities and places within public space that are cognitively demanding in various ways, for example, noise, crowding, and technology requirements (Brorsson, 2013;Winblad et al, 2016).…”