GRACE_Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory involving researchers, designers and therapists (from GENERA Onlus), established in a day-care centre for dementia in Milan. This paper describes an on-going study carried out inside GRACE_Lab and focused on the development of environmental solutions for Reminiscence Therapy in dementia care. Accordingly, inside the framework of Non Pharmacological Therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, the environment is widely considered as an important support in the care process, as it can lessen behavioural disturbances typical of this disease. Moreover, Reminiscence Therapy in care home design proved to be effective in helping residents to feel more familiar with the environment they are living in. Nostalgia is defined as “a longing for things, persons or situations that are not present or a longing for a perceived utopian past”. Even though reminiscence and nostalgia are strongly related, there is one relevant distinctness: on one hand, reminiscing past events is connected with the act of “remembering” but can be dissociated from evoking any feeling; on the other hand nostalgic remembrance is deeply associated with feelings, adding a sentimental component, through which an increased self- esteem can be triggered. Therefore, the recreation of nostalgic feelings and memories has deep psychological implications for human beings. In fact, research has shown that an increased self-esteem, social cohesion and connectedness can be triggered by nostalgic memories. Applying this approach to dementia care may enable us to reframe the use of memories to generate new methods of intervening on/in the interiors, suggesting a therapeutic use of nostalgia in the development of environmental solutions for dementia care units. Moreover, a wide variety of external stimuli (such as objects, sounds, images) can trigger nostalgic recollection due to their affective intrinsic qualities, widening the horizon to different innovative ways of engaging with people with dementia. Thus, there are strong evidences that led us to consider nostalgia, and archetypical elements, as the active component of therapeutic success in Reminiscence Therapy in dementia care home design.

Reminiscence and Nostalgia -The Role of Design in the Development of Feasible Solutions for Dementia Care

silvia maria gramegna
2019-01-01

Abstract

GRACE_Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory involving researchers, designers and therapists (from GENERA Onlus), established in a day-care centre for dementia in Milan. This paper describes an on-going study carried out inside GRACE_Lab and focused on the development of environmental solutions for Reminiscence Therapy in dementia care. Accordingly, inside the framework of Non Pharmacological Therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, the environment is widely considered as an important support in the care process, as it can lessen behavioural disturbances typical of this disease. Moreover, Reminiscence Therapy in care home design proved to be effective in helping residents to feel more familiar with the environment they are living in. Nostalgia is defined as “a longing for things, persons or situations that are not present or a longing for a perceived utopian past”. Even though reminiscence and nostalgia are strongly related, there is one relevant distinctness: on one hand, reminiscing past events is connected with the act of “remembering” but can be dissociated from evoking any feeling; on the other hand nostalgic remembrance is deeply associated with feelings, adding a sentimental component, through which an increased self- esteem can be triggered. Therefore, the recreation of nostalgic feelings and memories has deep psychological implications for human beings. In fact, research has shown that an increased self-esteem, social cohesion and connectedness can be triggered by nostalgic memories. Applying this approach to dementia care may enable us to reframe the use of memories to generate new methods of intervening on/in the interiors, suggesting a therapeutic use of nostalgia in the development of environmental solutions for dementia care units. Moreover, a wide variety of external stimuli (such as objects, sounds, images) can trigger nostalgic recollection due to their affective intrinsic qualities, widening the horizon to different innovative ways of engaging with people with dementia. Thus, there are strong evidences that led us to consider nostalgia, and archetypical elements, as the active component of therapeutic success in Reminiscence Therapy in dementia care home design.
2019
meaning of design in the next era - 4d Osaka Conference Proceedings
978-4-600-00239-8
Dementia, Nostalgia, Interior Design, Non-Pharmacological Therapies
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/1125993
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