Developing empathy towards older adults in design

Abstract

In design disciplines, an affective understanding of users' everyday lives can increase designer sensitivity and awareness, leading to higher-quality design outcomes. Developing students' empathic understanding within design education is required to accomplish this goal. This article discusses learning strategies that enhance students' empathic horizons, and specifically analyzes an assignment conducted in an Interior Architecture and Environmental Design course, "The Grandparent Experience." Here, exposure through observation and interviewing, and art-based methods are employed to develop students' empathy towards older adults. We conducted a survey with students who completed the exercise and the course, exploring their perspectives on their learning. The results reveal that students had positive views on the assignment's effectiveness regarding the learning outcome and learning process. Implications for empathic design education and educational gerontology are discussed.

An Experiential Study on Empathic Design in Interior Architecture Education

“…They only tried to explore visually impaired people's capabilities, needs and expectations by imagination gained from their role-playing activities. Therefore, it is proposed in other studies that designers should built face-to-face interactions with potential people with diverse user needs, because direct contact and communication play a significant role in developing empathy (Altay, 2017;Kouprie & Sleeswijk Visser, 2009;van Rijn et al, 2011). Generally, students analyzed and evaluated the situations empathically, compared the visually impaired people's capabilities with theirs and gave examples from their own experiences.…”

Entre lo que se dice y lo que se calla: visitando el concepto de empatía en la atención integral a la salud del adulto mayor

“…La adquisición de experiencias empáticas aún durante la formación de pregrado y grado en las carreras sanitarias es más una excepción a la regla de que una actividad institucionalizada en los centros de educación superior (55,56). Tal carestía de conocimiento aplicado revela un tipo de desacato en la atención integral al geronte, pues para su consecución es imperativo que haya una articulación entre los sistemas públicos de salud y educación.…”

Multisensory Inclusive Design Education: A 3D Experience

“…At the beginning of the course, simulation methods are applied where students explore the campus using wheelchairs, crutches, or blindfolds (Altay and Demirkan 2014). Additionally, during the second half of the course, students investigate their grandparents' experiences of their homes by collecting data through interviews and photographs (Altay 2017). Moreover, independent from the course but as an integral part of an inclusive design conference/ workshop at another university, the workshop 'A 3D Experience' was carried out with the participation of architecture and interior design students.…”