Service Design to promote a systemic and dynamic perspective of well-being in dementia care

With the population aging, the number of people with dementia in Europe is projected to rise from 9.95 million in 2010 to 18.65 million in 2050 (WHO, 2017). Due to a cluster of behavioural and psychological symptoms, people with dementia often show high dependent on others, resulting in a wide range of complex care needs for performing normal activities of daily living (WHO, 2017). However, the current focus of the healthcare systems is mainly on diagnosis, yet people living with dementia require and depend on their own care partners for support in their daily lives (Burgdorf et al., 2019). Dementia not only poses a burden on those afflicted, but also directly impacts their care partners (Köhler et al., 2021). In the 20th century, there has been a shift towards promoting the well-being of both people with dementia as well as their care partners (Burley et al., 2020), which emphasizes the importance of understanding the interactions and experiences of various actors involved in dementia care, including dyadic relationships (Watson, 2019; Podgorski et al., 2021), networks (Köhler et al., 2021), and other social care factors (Cho et al., 2016). But in most of these studies, they tend to focus on individual subjective well-being (Kitwood, 1993; Dröes et al., 2017) rather than examining their interrelationships or how the dynamic experiences and interactions contribute to reach a better care condition at the collective level. Based on research gaps, my PhD research questions are: (1) How to understand well-being from a systemic perspective in dementia care and what are their interrelations in existing care models? (2) How is the systemic perspective of well-being currently approached in designing for dementia care? (3) How can service design introduce and foster a systemic perspective of well-being for dementia care? This research aims to explore how Service Design should change in order to adopt and reach toward a systemic and dynamic perspective of well-being in the context of dementia care. While acknowledging the need to focus on improving the well-being of people with dementia and their caregivers, this research will explore the influence of relational dynamics involving multiple actors on the experiences of caregiving or living with dementia. The research will draw on both empirical and theoretical knowledge to create a more holistic understanding of dementia care, well-being, and the challenges associated with it. The interdisciplinary nature of this research will involve collaboration with healthcare professionals, designers, and other stakeholders from nursing, psychology, health science, and transformative service research.