My MFA thesis research investigated the introduction of biophilic design to improve the mood and behavior of persons with dementia. In this research, I collaborated with caregivers to learn what they found useful and applied it to the knowledge I gained from my literature review. The methods were qualitative. A survey was used to learn about the participants’ experiences of providing care to persons with dementia. In-depth interviews with participants were conducted online. Some participants took part in one-one-one online collaboration or co-design sessions to conceptualize future sensory stimulation activities for future use by the caregivers. Nurture Sensory Stimulation sourcebook is available for purchase.
As a result of my thesis research, a multipart sourcebook was conceptualized. The one-on-one interviews and co-design sessions with the participants validated the usefulness of the sourcebook. Some of the participants contributed activity ideas and features that will be included in the sourcebook which was designed for other caregivers to use with their persons with dementia. It includes descriptions and details of biophilic sensorial activities and tools for the caregivers to use. These activities are designed to be affordable, attainable, and easy to complete at home or within the memory care support in a continuing care retirement community.
The online survey was developed in Qualtrics. The first half of the survey’s questions is a combination of multiple choice and type-in responses about the caregiver’s experience providing care to persons with dementia. The remaining survey questions ask the participant to answer how they perceive the adult with dementia would respond to the corresponding sensorial images. For each image they will respond to three statements that describe moods and behaviors relevant to research on dementia diseases. Each of the answers is rated on a 5-point bi-polar scale.
The co-design sessions were conducted one-on-one in a real-time video conference. The participants viewed the facilitator’s (my) screen and instructed what to do during the session’s three short activities. Each activity had an Image Bank that displayed 91 images and editable sticky notes for the participant to choose to be placed within the activities’ boards.
I participated in a co-design course with residents living in Ohio Living Westminster Thurber (WT). This is a continuing care retirement community that provides living and care accommodations for 65 and up individuals as they need while they age. Our Wellbeing co-design group was comprised of 8 residents and 3 OSU graduate students. We collaborated in weekly sessions over 13 weeks. Our group strived to incorporate technology in our project for WT residents to achieve wellbeing.
The conclusion of the semester-long co-design research was presented by the participants to the residential community, other students and professionals.
Before our co-design group could determine the application of technology to be used in this project, we had to determine what wellbeing means to the WT residents. Through collaborative mapping activities, Wellbeing was defined as:
“A sense of purpose is an essential component to achieving wellbeing; without it, health, social and spiritual aspects of life are difficult to achieve.”
Through various exercises and explorations, the group determined a communication portal would be useful to Westminster Thurber residents to improve their wellbeing by connecting people to:
• Volunteer opportunities (Purpose)
• Social engagement (Social)
• Health events (Health)
• Spiritual offerings (Spirituality)
The co-designing participants mapped the framework of the community portal. The portal’s features and pages were selected during the participants’ discussion; then, posted to the wall.
The participants identified the portal users’ personal security as being one of the most important features to be addressed. During this discussion, it was determined that the portal should only allow Westminster Thurber residents and staff as users. The participants also wanted the ability to search using keywords to find people, activities and common interests. There are over a dozen committees and the participants would like to make them accessible to the other residents to contact the chairperson and learn about the committees’ missions.
The participants designed wireframes of their concepts of the community portal. They included features for different areas of the portal. All the participants shared the same interest in listing the daily soup and entree specials at the community’s restaurant. This feature would inform the residents to make a decision whether to eat in the restaurant or prepare food in their apartments. Currently, residents walk to the restaurant to find out the daily specials. The participants envision the portal to provide daily information that would be useful to the community residents.
Our co-designing participants are using Plush Forums portal as a working tool to build their concepts. Using this portal’s template created challenges with designing the pages to meet the residents’ needs, e.g., a main committees landing page with subcategory pages leading to individual committee pages. Also, navigating this portal is not user-friendly and creates additional challenges for the participants and community residents. The co-designing team determined it is useful and should continue being used by the community resident to develop the concept for the future portal that will be designed by them to meet their needs. The co-designing project was successful because the participants identified the residents’ needs for improved communication and social engagement within the community and continue developing the concept of the future portal. The number of community portal users continue to grow and is currently being used to post discussions about the community and share a variety of information with the users.
A co-design research project was conducted over 15 weeks with stakeholders (medical providers, former patients, and family members) at OSU Wexner Center’s ICU. My research team was comprised of 4 other graduate students exploring possible solutions to reducing delirium amongst ICU patients. We had three co-design sessions with stakeholders, two were in-person and one was virtual.
A participant used dollhouse furniture and markers to explain their experience as a patient receiving care in ICU.
In co-design session one participants were interviewed while they used images, post-its and dollhouse furniture to create collages that represented their experiences in ICU. The participants were medical providers, former patients and family members.
During session two co-design workshop, participants (medical providers, former patients and family members) created solution concepts to problems they experienced in ICU. They were given what-if and magic wand cards to represent their proposed solutions. Rough prototypes began to emerge from the participants’ concepts to inform the third co-design session.
During session three workshop, participants (medical providers, a former patient and family member) collaborated virtually with the researchers to design a prototype of the patient room environment. Each participant was scheduled to take part in one-on-one prototype-modeling co-design session.
In this project, I worked with a group of graduate students on a virtual reality application. We divided up the work by our individual thesis interests. I worked on the environment in which the application would be based. This was created through the insertion of a 360-degree image in Unity, a virtual reality building program. Through this project, I learned about accessing codes from forums and applying them to achieve the intended outcomes. I also learned how accessible 360-degree videos or images may be viewed on smart phones through a virtual reality head-mounted device that doesn’t require the purchase of an expensive virtual reality console or equipment.
This is an ideation illustration of my progress and contribution in the team’s project. It begins with my progress and contribution to the project’s development as well as the implementation of the team’s ideation and implementation. The horizontal axis (individual and group) identifies the individual and group’s progress through the progress. The contributed work (time committed and production) are shown along the vertical axis. I wanted to identify and show the location of each step along the project’s progress. The most challenging portion of the project was implementing each member’s component to a working application before advancing and adding the next member’s work.
Through the exercise of mind mapping, I saw my thesis research topic begin to form and grow to include biophilic design, the aging population and wellbeing.
Components of social, emerging technology and nature deficit were connected through mindmapping. This exploration exercise revealed a variety of components within each of the three areas of interest (social, technology and nature deficit).
The existing emerging technology devices and tools are placed in the colorful ring in relation to the areas of interest they would apply. YouVisit is a mixed reality app that virtually transports the user to a location like a museum or historical landmark. An individual may use BikeAround to virtually travel to locations via GoogleEarth by physically peddling a virtual bicycle along roads. Revit promotes the vision of interior environments with 3D renderings. FeelReal is a multi-sensory virtual reality headset that can emit smells to enhance the user’s experience. Virtual Reality Therapy is currently used to build empathy for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and promote reminiscence for seniors.
This string model shows the relationship of several nodes within the three areas (social, technology and nature deficit). The model is visually representing a sphere with continuous connections and energy that is flattened to show all the connections; the top and bottom locations are the axes of the sphere. The colored threads distinguish the components’ areas. Red thread represents technology that includes You Visit, Bike Around, Revit, Feel Real, and virtual reality therapy. The green thread represents public solutions for nature deficit that include courtyards, farmers markets, gardens, parks, and co-housing. The blue thread represents the proposed applications and potential positive results of nature experiences.