User Research in Elderly homes, Copenhagen, Denmark
As part of User Research class at Pilot year - CIID, we spent two days in two different elderly homes in Copenhagen (Absalonhus and Bethania) - most of the residents have dementia. We interviewed some elderly people, the staff and the manager of both places. We could see the everyday life of the residents and how the home is structured and organised.
We underlined some main needs for the residents:
They want to be as autonomous as possible in terms of mobility and date/time understanding; and they want to have an active social life but also keep their privacy as a value.
We thought about some tools that could be developed to address these needs such as underlining natural cycles to keep them in contact with reality and passing time. We discussed using nature to connect them with the space/context and help them to relax. We also thought about how existing devices can be improve some existing devices such as phones, gym interfaces, watches, TV and radios, to make them more accessible for elderly people.
Faculty: Michele Chang, Eliot Salandy Brown, Oren Horev
Co-students: Alice Pintus, Andreas Hesse, Kevin Cannon
