Virtual and memory adaptable spaces creating stimuli for the senses in ageing people with dementia

The SENSE-GARDEN is a novel, technological solution for dementia care, that was developed as part of an interdisciplinary EU project funded by AAL Programme in a collaboration with funding agencies in the implementation countries Norway, Belgium, Romania, and Portugal (AAL/Call2016/054-b/201). Its implementation period was from June 2017 till November 2020. It aimed to create individualized, immersive spaces for people living with dementia. A SENSE-GARDEN is a room built inside of a dementia care environment (i.e. care home or hospital) that combines immersive technologies, digital media, and multisensory stimuli to create environments personalized to the life story of the person with dementia. Four of these SENSE-GARDEN spaces have been created and are currently in operation in each of the intervening countries. The concept builds upon techniques from reminiscence therapy, in which the individual is encouraged to remember, reflect upon and share past moments from their lives including people, places, and events which are relevant and meaningful. By using digital technologies to present familiar music, photographs, films and scents within an immersive environment, it is hoped that the SENSE-GARDEN can provide residents living with dementia, their relatives and members of staff, the opportunity to engage with the life story of the individual in a new and exciting way. These spaces can increase the awareness of people with dementia by providing stimuli to the different senses, such as sight, touch, hearing, balance and smell, leading to a re-connection with the reality around them. The SENSE-GARDEN, with the help of a caregiver, encourages people with dementia to exercise at both the mental and physical level, and takes them back into places they feel connected to. They can for example cycle or stroll in a well-known space and feel like they are going home. Such experiences may have an effect on invigorating their identity and helping recovering the sense of self.

For the person with dementia (PwD) The SENSE-GARDEN helps preserving the person's internalized and evolving life story that a person constructs to make sense and meaning out of his or her life. Through meaningful activities it can promote the interpersonal relationships amongst people living with dementia and caregivers. For caregivers (staff and family members) SENSE-GARDEN helps supporting families to deeply connect with the person with dementia in spite of the challenge that dementia presents. The findings suggest that SENSE-GARDEN is a space in which the person with dementia could talk about their life experiences, and this was shown to give both staff and family members new knowledge on the individual. International networking: Institutions from several countries, in addition to the 4 already involved, have declared interest and support in contributing to the further developments of the SENSE-GARDEN approach, including Canada, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

The SENSE-GARDEN project aims at creating virtual gardens, which are automatically adaptable to personal memories of their users. Spaces that strengthen the awareness of older people with dementia by providing stimuli to the different senses, such as sight, touch, hearing, balance and smell, leading to a re-connection with the reality around them. People with dementia progressively disconnect from the world; they experience loss of function, especially memory, eventually affecting their verbal communication. Language loss is a major factor for disconnecting from close ones such as family and friends. This progress is exacerbated by the lack of external stimuli, which can happen due to reduced activity and apathy in general. This is especially the case when the person enters an unfamiliar environment such as a care or nursing home. After some weeks in the new and alien place, it is common that the person reduces the interaction with others and turns increasingly inwards. This project will create a mixture of natural and technological environments, which are linked to the individual memories of the user and automatically adapt to them. These SENSE-GARDENS are filled with familiar music, videos and photos from known places and with known people. Pictures and videos are combined with music - maybe a large image of mountains together with singing birds. Smells - the odour of a pine forest - dispersed with a scent delivery system. This provides an immersive space automatically adjusted to each visitor, creating a connection to the more active areas of the memory and giving intense sensation. The SENSE-GARDEN, with the help of a caregiver, encourages people with dementia to exercise at both the mental and physical level, and takes them back into places they feel connected to. They can for example cycle or walk in a well-known space and feel like they are going home. Such experiences may have an effect on invigorating their identity and helping recovering the sense of self.