Creative and opportunistic use of everyday music technologies in a dementia care unit

Abstract

This paper describes everyday technologies in use in a long-term dementia care ward, and ways in which these technologies facilitated creative expression for residents within. Drawing on ethnographic research focusing on participation in creative activities for people with dementia living in care, the paper details how residents engaged with technologies (such as television) in a passive way (spending hours sitting in front of the TV without engaging with others around them), and in an active way (singing and dancing to music played via stereo and record player). Findings from this research emphasise the importance for interaction design for dementia in appreciating the role of active creative participation in sustaining personhood in dementia. Given a lack of both time and resources in publicly-funded care homes, we also highlight the value of opportunistic design in the field.