Exploring the Design of Tailored Virtual Reality Experiences for People with Dementia

Hodge, J; Balaam, M; Hastings, S; Morrissey, K

doi:10.1145/3173574.3174088

Exploring the Design of Tailored Virtual Reality Experiences for People with Dementia

Lookup NU author(s): Dr James Hodge, Dr Madeline Balaam, Dr Kellie Morrissey

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

© 2018 Association for Computing Machinery. Despite indications that recreational virtual reality (VR) experiences could be beneficial for people with dementia, this area remains unexplored in contrast to the body of work on neurological rehabilitation through VR in dementia. With recreational VR applications coming to the market for dementia, we must consider how VR experiences for people with dementia can be sensitively designed to provide comfortable and enriching experiences. Working with seven participants from a local dementia care charity, we outline some of the opportunities and challenges inherent to the design and use of VR experiences with people with dementia and their carers through an inductive thematic analysis. We also provide a series of future directions for work in VR and dementia: 1) careful physical design, 2) making room for sharing, 3) utilizing all senses, 4) personalization, and 5) positioning the person with dementia as an active participant.