SENSE-GARDEN Home - development and testing of a portable SENSE-GARDEN

While the traditional SENSE-GARDEN room setup is meant to be for care organizations, the SENSE-GARDEN Home is a compact system that could fit in a suitcase that can be carried around and installed easily in a dementia daycare center or even at people's homes. It can bring the SENSE-GARDEN experience at the person's home in three easy steps: 1: Answer the ALMA (Art of Life Memory Album) questionnaire; 2: Select appropriate and adjusted digital content both from net and family provided; 3: Create various personalised activity sessions. The project is now concluded (at the end of November 2021) and a commercial version is available for purchasing.All information can be obtained through the SENSE-GARDEN Association (https://sense-garden.eu/association)

The SENSE GARDEN Home solution produced is based on the existing SENSE-GARDEN platform. The solution consists of a simplification of the user interface and integration of three modules previously developed. The goal was to achieve a simpler solution aimed at the home market but also possible to use by institutions. The produced solution is able to perform according to the goal above and can already be proposed for marketing and sales. The SENSE GARDEN Home "form-factor" consists of a portable set of devices, including an "experience box" with capacity for showing videos and images, and executing rehabilitation games, on a TV screen, an unit to disperse aromas in the room, and a mobile app where the SENSE-GARDEN activities can be planned and executed. The devices are planned to be distributed by the company ePoint. The idea and concept will be disseminated and operationalised by the umbrella organization SENSE-GARDEN Association created during the execution of this project.

People with dementia (PWD) 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 the close ones such as family and friends. This progress is exacerbated by the lack of external stimuli, which happens 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, turns increasingly inward, stops talking and spends more and more time sitting and facing the void. Example scenario: Jonathan is the caregiver on duty that has been allocated to spend some time with Julia, one of the residents in the delightful Sunny Village. The idea behind the village is to create an atmosphere as close to feeling at home as possible. To enjoy this sense of home feeling they recently installed a SENSE-GARDEN Home, which most of the residents have been using with very positive results. Every day, Julia, a nice woman in a moderate stage of dementia, likes to go for a visit in the SENSE-GARDEN Home. When Julia enters the space, it adapts to the user and starts playing music that she likes and recognizes. A large reality wall screen shows images from known places and videos of nature she recognised and which were surrounding her village, where she lived with her husband and children. he can smell scents of flowers and this will bring back memories as she was treating the plants in her own garden at home. Initially, soothing sounds from birds are playing in small, concealed, speakers. This always calms her down. She feels happy and wants to share this with Jonathan, standing next to her. These visits to the SENSE-GARDEN Home really makes her days brighter and she feels more awake and alert. The visit ends with a tea, immersed in a safe familiar space.