Promoting Older Residents’ Social Interaction and Wellbeing: A Design Perspective

Cun Li, Kai Kang, Xu Lin, Jun Hu, Bart Hengeveld and Caroline Hummels
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Cun Li: Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Kai Kang: Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Xu Lin: Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Jun Hu: Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Bart Hengeveld: Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Caroline Hummels: Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-17

Abstract: The aging society has arrived, and more and more older adults are living in a nursing home. However, institutional care settings are often described as places where residents suffer from social isolation. Under this context, we describe the process of translating into fieldwork into interactive systems facilitating elderly residents’ social interaction and wellbeing. Comprehensive semi-structured interviews with older residents and caregivers were first conducted in a Dutch nursing home, aiming at understanding the status of their social interaction. The context of a typical elderly resident’s social interaction was then generated, and based on which three interactive systems focusing on different aspects of their social interaction were designed and deployed. The paper finally concludes with design considerations for promoting social interaction and wellbeing of older adults living in the nursing home.

Keywords: social interaction; older adults; nursing home; prototype; user-centered design; interactive design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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