I just waned to collate my thoughts so far to firm up the direction for my project.
I learnt from my user research that there really has to be two sides to this project, one for the person with dementia and one for the care giver. While my primary goal from the start was giving independence back, this now has be for both sides rather than just the person with dementia.
From my technology research, I think there needs to be a standardised all in one smart home system for people with dementia which passively helps them, which could be achieved through upcoming experimental technology, and this system needs to feedback to the caregiver for peace of mind and monitoring.
I found it hard to find many digital products for dementia care in my competitor analysis, which I think is largely due to the older demographic of dementia patients meaning they are less able with technology and specifically phone apps which is the form most digital products take at the moment. I think the examples I found where useful to look at but the bigger takeaway from this is that the care givers are generally comfortable using screen based technology, while those with technology aren’t.
This makes me think an approach where an app is used by the caregiver to monitor the person with dementia, while the person with dementia lives within a light touch interact-able environment that responds to them rather than them having to take the first move would be the best road to go down.
I’ll flesh this out more at during a more thorough ideation process but this is at least a good starting direction and will help me to direct my user interviews.