Perception of Designers of an enabling environment for dementia care
The global number of people with dementia has increased from 41 million in 2015 to 131.5 million in 2050. The number is growing in developing countries with the decline in the quality of care and the high turnover rates of formal caregivers. Professor Tom Kitwood (1997) originated the concept of person-centred care, which emphasised the quality of care with mutual interactions and treated ‘patients’ as individual and equal partners. Based on a person-centred care approach, a dementia-friendly environment can support the challenging symptoms within the specialised environment for quality care, such as comfort, familiarity, and an organised space are significant therapeutic resources for supporting residents’ well-being. However, to provide quality dementia care, care staff requires to acknowledge their roles in a setting to create an enabling environment and the emotional tone of the psychosocial climate, which also significantly influences people with dementia’s well-being. In this case, the salutogenic design is vital in supporting personalised narratives related to personality, lifestyles, and a decision-making process to enable the quality of life of people with dementia. The concept of Salutogenic design has become a trend for people with dementia to live in small-scale and home-like care settings to enhance meaningful daily activities in familiar domestic settings. However, various care organisations worldwide are working on balancing design qualities of usability and aesthetically pleasing appearance. Especially in Thailand, where the quality of dementia care has been promoted, the design of an enabling environment was explored through the perception of designers on salutogenic design and capabilities approach. Thus, emerging domains and themes of an enabling environment for dementia care will be discussed.
Keywords: Design for Dementia Care, Enabling Environment, Perception of Designers, Salutogenic Design, Capabilities Approach
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