Abstract
Is co-design together with people with dementia always feasible? Designing for people with dementia is challenging, and co-design has been widely recognised as an effective approach to design products conform to participants’ needs. The inclusion of people with dementia provides designers with an authentic representation of dementia, regardless of stereotypes and assumptions. However, it is not always easy to implement co-design with people with dementia in practice. This paper examines the feasibility of co-design with people with dementia through reflective practice, semi-structured interviews with designers, and a rapid literature review. The study identifies three dualities of co-design, addressing three benefits and three barriers when involving people with dementia in the design process. While co-design should always be prioritised, there is a need to explore alternative approaches to increase the accessibility of designing for people with dementia in design practice. This paper proposes handover approaches as an alternative to address some of the barriers associated with co-design. Handover approaches offer opportunities to include the voice of people with dementia in the design process and their development could contribute to the accessibility of designing for people with dementia in general. However, the paper concludes that the development of handover approaches also poses concerns that require further research in order to identify and develop effective handover approaches.
Keywords
co-design, handover approach, dementia, design research
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.276
Citation
Lenaerts, L., Hendriks, N.,and Wilkinson, A.(2023) Dualities of co-design in the context of dementia: Can handover approaches provide an answer?, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.276
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Dualities of co-design in the context of dementia: Can handover approaches provide an answer?
Is co-design together with people with dementia always feasible? Designing for people with dementia is challenging, and co-design has been widely recognised as an effective approach to design products conform to participants’ needs. The inclusion of people with dementia provides designers with an authentic representation of dementia, regardless of stereotypes and assumptions. However, it is not always easy to implement co-design with people with dementia in practice. This paper examines the feasibility of co-design with people with dementia through reflective practice, semi-structured interviews with designers, and a rapid literature review. The study identifies three dualities of co-design, addressing three benefits and three barriers when involving people with dementia in the design process. While co-design should always be prioritised, there is a need to explore alternative approaches to increase the accessibility of designing for people with dementia in design practice. This paper proposes handover approaches as an alternative to address some of the barriers associated with co-design. Handover approaches offer opportunities to include the voice of people with dementia in the design process and their development could contribute to the accessibility of designing for people with dementia in general. However, the paper concludes that the development of handover approaches also poses concerns that require further research in order to identify and develop effective handover approaches.