Service Design for Elderly People with Dementia and the Role of Technology Mediation.

The world is entering an aging society in which the problem about the aged becomes a public concern especially the difficulties those elderly people with dementia are facing. The purpose of this study is to provide insight into the needs of elderly people with dementia through the user centered service design methods, and to explore the role of technology mediation, such as how VR (virtual reality), serious games and other digital technologies meet the needs of different levels of elderly people with dementia. Some previous studies only focused on the basic needs in home and it can be met by ICT (Information and Communication Technology) products such as Smart Home System or Living Lab environment. However, the overall system to meet the needs of all aspects of elderly people with dementia, considering different stakeholders and integrated with new digital technologies needs to be designed. In order to investigate the real needs of elderly people with dementia, the user centered research methods such as personas, stakeholder analysis and user travel map are used and four types of user needs and their corresponding user behavior, content and solutions are defined. And the Dementia Care app which can meet the needs of dementia people in all aspects is designed. Finally, the role of technology mediation is discussed. In the future work, the design will be developed and applied to the elderly people with mild dementia to improve their ability to live independently and the role of new digital technologies will be verified.