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SENSE-SENSITIVE DESIGN


Tarkett’s virtual reality (VR) tool allows professionals, including interior designers, to see the world through the eyes of a person living with dementia, and ‘showcases first-hand how an environment can play a significant role in enhancing patients’ experience, accelerating recovery, and promoting wellbeing’.


Hearing


Of course, it’s not just about sight. A truly dementia-friendly environment is designed with consideration for all the senses. People with dementia get more easily overwhelmed by sensory stimulation of all kinds. They might find it harder to pick out speech over background noise, or they might find sudden noises frightening and confusing. Some research shows that removing unnecessary noise can reduce aggressive behaviour, and even encourage people with dementia to eat more. Many carers of people with dementia report that when their loved one goes into hospital, they come out with unwelcome weight loss, even to the point of malnutrition. It’s surprising to think that this could be fixed with better interior design, but the evidence suggests that it is possible. If someone is being put off their food by the crashing around and loud talking that comes at mealtimes, it makes sense that removing these distractions will help them to eat better. Obvious changes include switching off televisions that aren’t being watched, and encouraging food workers to handle cutlery and crockery more quietly, but flooring and soft furnishings can also make a huge difference, by absorbing noise, rather than magnifying clatter.


‘Hard evidence’ of health benefits Apart from the natural desire to treat people with kindness, there are medical reasons for creating more dementia- friendly spaces. Many European countries have a problem with over-prescribing or prescribing inappropriate drugs to people with dementia, particularly anti-psychotic drugs. Only a small proportion of people with dementia receive any clinical benefit from anti-psychotics, and we know that overprescription of these drugs is causing additional deaths. One Danish study found that people with dementia who receive antipsychotics have a 35% higher risk of mortality, while UK research suggests that antipsychotics cause about 1,800


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additional deaths a year in this vulnerable subset of the population.


Various countries have tried using different health warnings in their efforts to reduce the widespread use of anti- psychotics, with mixed results. They remain in use because they’re seen as the best way to manage the difficult behaviour that comes with dementia: aggression, shouting, wandering, and so on. What if this behaviour could be managed better through more dementia-friendly spaces? There is hard evidence to show that when people with dementia feel in control of their environment,


and perceived threats are removed, the problematic behaviour is drastically reduced. Nobody is stating that interior design will stop all of the challenges posed by living with dementia, but when a space is designed with people’s specific needs in mind, along with knowledge of how they perceive the world, a lot of the stressors can be removed. Whether they’re in hospital, in a care home, or being supported to live in their own home, the ultimate goal of all dementia-friendly design is to enable people with dementia to live the fullest possible lives.


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The importance of good colour contrast shown. Shaz Hawkins


Shaz Hawkins is the Segment Marketing manager for Healthcare and Education at Tarkett UK, a global flooring manufacturer offering an extensive portfolio of flooring solutions for a variety of applications and needs. As the population ages, healthcare facilities will need to support more people with age-related conditions, including dementia. Shaz Hawkins and the team at Tarkett are dedicated to improving the healing environment, and, through the development of the company’s Virtual Reality Empathy Platform (VR-EP), can showcase first-hand how an environment can play a significant role in enhancing patients’ experience, accelerating recovery, and promoting wellbeing.


OCTOBER 2020 | THE NETWORK


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