Designing for dementia: personas to aid communication between professionals developing built environments for people with dementia

Dementia is expected to become increasingly prevalent, with some estimates suggesting that the number of people with dementia (PWDem) will reach 115.4 million by 2050 (Prince et al., 2013). Due to the diverse and complex needs of PWDem, this poses significant challenges in providing appropriate built environments for this group. A Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) approach may be useful in designing built environments for PWDem, including care environments, as it focuses on the needs, limitations and abilities of users. Personas represent the needs of archetypal users and may therefore be useful in supporting this approach to design.

The results of a systematic literature review indicated that HFE did not appear to have been widely used in this area previously, but that such an approach was likely to be useful in designing dementia care homes. Evidence-based dementia personas were therefore developed, with the intention of these being used as a discussion tool to encourage stakeholders to consider the needs, limitations and abilities of PWDem when designing new dementia care environments. [Continues.]