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Impact of Care Home Design on Wellbeing and Social Connections of People with Dementia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Dementia Lab 2022: The Residue of Design (D-Lab 2022)

Part of the book series: Design For Inclusion ((DFI,volume 3))

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Abstract

The functionality, well-being, and quality of life of people living with dementia can be positively impacted by careful environmental design. As a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak, sudden rearrangements were made in the social and physical environment of dementia care residents. The present study aimed to explore the lessons learned regarding the design and use of the built environment during the COVID-19 lockdown and to find how the built environment might contribute positively to improved well-being, and social and physical connection of dementia care residents in the future. In a mixed-method explorative study, social-physical aspects of the built environment that influence quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic were explored. In general, buildings with a spacious layout and flexible use of spaces contribute to a higher quality of life and level of resident well-being, improved infection control, greater resilience, and enhances social and physical contact. Currently, the buildings of many care facilities are not designed to accommodate a severely infectious disease outbreak. Additionally, nursing staff have learned the importance of attending to the number of stimuli in the social and built environment and attuning these to individual, instead of group needs. Our findings indicate there is a need for designing and building spacious long-term dementia care facilities that allow for flexible, social and personalized appropriation of spaces.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Ans Tummers-Heemels, Anne Coppelmans, Yvonne de Kort & Wijnand IJsselsteijn

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  1. Ans Tummers-Heemels
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  2. Anne Coppelmans
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  3. Yvonne de Kort
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  4. Wijnand IJsselsteijn
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Correspondence to Ans Tummers-Heemels .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Maarten Houben

  2. Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Rens Brankaert

  3. Inter-Actions Research Unit, LUCA School of Arts, Genk, Belgium

    Niels Hendriks

  4. Inter-Actions Research Unit, LUCA School of Arts, Genk, Belgium

    Andrea Wilkinson

  5. School of Design, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Kellie Morrissey

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Tummers-Heemels, A., Coppelmans, A., de Kort, Y., IJsselsteijn, W. (2023). Impact of Care Home Design on Wellbeing and Social Connections of People with Dementia During the COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Houben, M., Brankaert, R., Hendriks, N., Wilkinson, A., Morrissey, K. (eds) Dementia Lab 2022: The Residue of Design. D-Lab 2022. Design For Inclusion, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14466-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14466-0_3

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