Design


Selecting artwork for dementia care homes: there are rules!


Kerry Southern-Reason, managing director of multi-award- winning, family-run business The Care Home Interiors Company, discusses what to do (and what not to do) when it comes to creating safe, calm spaces for those living with dementia


You might be looking for research and guidance about how to select artwork specifically for the benefit of people living with dementia. The truth is that there isn’t much out there for you to learn from. When we think of artwork, we might think of an art gallery where art can be a fleeting fancy - something abstract open to our own interpretation - or something we can use to make our home a home, with pictures from our own lives, family photographs, or images we simply have a connection with. In everyday life there are no rules when considering artwork – we either like it or we don’t. However, when choosing artwork for an environment where people are living with dementia, there are rules. Nothing must be left open to misinterpretation. When selecting artwork for a dementia care environment, it is always important to remember it is first and foremost still an adult space. Adults live and work there; they have life experiences, with many years of memories to call upon. The purpose of design and decoration should be to enhance an individual’s quality of life, allowing them to take control however they can in a living environment that is reassuring as well as enabling.


Many dementia-specific design treatments are seen as an intervention, whether to aid wayfinding or to help memory recall. However, most wayfinding- specific interior treatments can result in wayfinding overkill, sometimes resulting in


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Upton Mill Care Home – dining area


the intended solution becoming a further hindrance to how people with dementia interact with their environment.


Chasing butterflies


Get it wrong and the results can be devastating, resulting in creating more anxiety, agitation, and even depression. I have seen the absolute fear on a person’s face when utter confusion takes over at the sight of a lifelike mural depicting a realistic scene that you cannot actually engage with. ‘A key aspect of designing for a cognitive impairment like dementia is to build on the strengths that residents still have. Design should not just aim to support their disabilities, but utilise their remaining abilities. There are a number of ways in which this can be done.’1 Lifelike images on walls could be


incredibly distressing to someone who is easily confused. We may know that it is only a representation of reality, but someone with dementia may have no idea whether it is real or not.


A good example of an artwork treatment that did not work occurred when I was working on-site at a care home and I saw a lady trying to catch butterflies that were actually wall stickers. The stickers created confusion but also heightened this lady’s anxiousness; as she could not catch them to release them outside, she became distressed. This then hindered the carers who were then required to calm the situation. Artwork should be simple and easily identifiable. This mitigates the risk of confusion and distress. For example we would use images of food and drink in a dining or kitchen area, whereas a lounge or library area could feature more traditional pictures that would be sourced from wildlife or nature.


Case study: Upton Mill Care Home, Tetbury The pictures accompanying this article show the artworks used in the overall interior design at Upton Mill Care Home in Tetbury for Porthaven Care Homes – an interior for which we won the Best


www.thecarehomeenvironment.com September 2022


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