Cover story – advertising feature
How to maximise wayfinding in care homes
Ashley Hooper, commercial marketing manager at JHS, discusses how making informed choices about the colours, patterns, and shapes used in care home flooring can enhance wayfinding for residents living with dementia, boosting their independence, autonomy, and overall wellbeing
What can care home owners, developers, and designers do to promote occupants’ independence and wellbeing? The opportunities are endless, but limiting factors such as time, budgets, and capacity can mean simple design changes are more welcome than substantial structural renovations. When designing these spaces, there is often a focus on making these spaces safer for vulnerable residents – by making design choices such as the use of non-slip flooring, accessible entrances and exits, and clean, hygienic furnishings that keep people safe. However, the use of flooring to foster wayfinding often goes overlooked. The selection of certain colours, patterns, and shapes can help, or hinder, the wayfinding abilities and comfort levels of those living with dementia. Roughly 70 per cent of all care home residents in the UK have dementia, or some form of severe memory loss, according to the Alzheimer’s Society.1
Designing spaces that consider
their specific needs, then, is crucial. Wayfinding, which is the ability to
navigate from one place to another, is integral to the independence and autonomy of a person, and the loss of this functional ability is one of the earliest signs of diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The long corridors and general lack of distinctiveness that are commonplace in care home environments make it harder for residents to find their way round. But there are several design interventions that can make a huge impact.
Colour and layout are key The colour and layout of flooring can be both functional – i.e. aiding navigation – and
November 2023
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com How to maximise
wayfinding in care homes Braintree Mews: first-class care in Essex Care Show Birmingham review
Volume 8 Issue 10 November 2023
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com
similarly, furnishings should stand out against the walls and floors, to allow residents to see more clearly between levels and objects.3
Furthermore, choosing
products that are accredited by industry bodies such as the DSDC (Dementia Services Development Centre) ensures certain flooring solutions do not cause confusion to those living with dementia.4 Selecting flooring with care and
soothing. While colour associations are dependent on a variety of cultural, personal, and subjective factors, different colours generally induce different emotions and feelings. Blues are seen as calming and restful, while reds stimulate adrenaline. Neutral colours, such as beige, should be considered carefully when specifying floor coverings; dull colours that lack distinctiveness mean people with poor eyesight may find that the floors appear to blend together. Black flooring, similarly, can cause confusion – as it is much harder to perceive depth. Wayfinding design can be enhanced by using carpet tiles to signify walkways. While also having the practical benefits of design flexibility and ease of repair, using carpet tiles to create homogenously coloured walkways enables residents to follow the path from the hallway to communal areas. Different coloured carpet tiles could also be used to signify the end of the path – i.e. where only staff should be accessing, or private rooms. Another design consideration is the importance of contrasting colours. NHS guidelines suggest contrasting colours should be chosen for the walls and floors;
consideration is an easy and efficient way to make a notable, positive impact on people living with dementia.
References 1 Facts for the media about dementia. Alzheimer’s Society
2 Chiu, YC et al. Getting lost: directed attention and executive functions in early Alzheimer’s disease patients. Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders. 17(3). 174–180.
https://doi.org/10.1159/000076353. 2004
3 How to make your home dementia friendly. Dementia Guide. NHS
4 Dementia Services Development Centre Homepage. University of Stirling
01827 831400
info@jhscarpets.com
https://www.jhscarpets.com/
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