Emobook: A Multimedia Life Story Book App for Reminiscence Intervention

Abstract

Physical Life Story Books are widely used as part of reminiscence interventions, where people with dementia (PWD) recount their life experiences and memories to family and caregivers supported by pictures. This paper reports the design of a tablet app, Emobook, to facilitate the implementation of Digital Life Story Book workshops in the context of therapeutic day care centres specialized in PWD. Our digital app facilitates not only preparing life stories flexibly based on multimedia but also captures emotional responses associated to each memory. This can bring an opportunity to assess how the disease progresses and rely on mood trackers to provide personalized and more positive future interventions, which remain still unexplored. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → User centered design; Participatory design; • Social and professional topics → Sociotechnical systems; Seniors.

The use of a digital life story to support person-centred care of older adults with dementia: A scoping review

“…Thirty-one studies published between 2004 and 2021 were included (see Appendix 3). These included research articles (17/31), 25 – 41 conference articles (8/31), 42 – 49 theses (2/31), 50 , 51 discussion articles (1/31), 52 long papers (1/31), 53 ministry reports (1/31), 54 and a web-based presentation (1/31). 55 The included material originated from the United Kingdom (12/31), 25 , 26 , 31 , 33 , 41 , 43 , 45 , 47 , 52 – 55 Sweden (5/31), 32 , 38 , 40 , 50 , 51 Australia (3/31), 36 , 39 , 48 the United States (2/31), 28 , 30 Canada (2/31), 27 , ...…”

“…DLSs were valuable and beneficial in PCC for supporting older adults’ privacy, dignity, and memories, especially in the early stages of dementia when the older adult might have more maintained functions and could participate in activities using the DLS. 36 , 48 DLSs changed HCPs’ views of older adults and helped them recognise and prevent disruptive behaviour, which relieved their burden and the older adult's distress. 40 , 41 , 47 , 54 The HCPs needed help from relatives to compile and update content for the DLSs.…”

“… 25 , 32 , 42 , 47 , 50 , 52 , 53 The DLSs contained various materials to provide diversity, engagement, 28 , 29 , 41 , 42 , 46 and calmness for older adults with dementia, for example, when exhibiting agitation or other challenging behaviours. 31 , 33 , 46 – 48 Another benefit for HCPs might be that having a record of activities and their responses on a DLS could enable them to keep track of decline between periods. 38 …”

Adapting Technology for Dementia Care: The Case of Emobook App in Reminiscence focused Music Therapy

“…The music therapist presented a minute-byminute timeline in accordance with the clinical protocol, ensuring precise data correlation to meet the requirement for a comprehensive schedule. Subsequently, the technologists explained how to choose and preset the emotional assessment scales included in the app [6]. The data collection architecture of the app was elucidated, focusing on how Emobook facilitates the organization of memories by incorporating pictures or videos into themes/chapters, intended to construct the life story of each participant individually.…”

“…They facilitate narrative construction by containing photos, images, videos, music, or audio that prompt life memories, thereby serving as a tool to impact well-being and quality of life. Among them Emobook stands out as an app developed to enhance reminiscence experience by providing therapists with multimedia control, interactive features (e.g., music, sounds, movie clips), and interaction record collection, facilitating disease progression monitoring [6]. It facilitates the organization of memories by arranging them into themes/chapters.…”