Designing the I-Do Service: Facilitating Inclusion and Empowerment of People Living with Dementia through Access to Cultural and Creative Activities

ended

This fellowship will co-develop, implement and evaluate the I-Do service to increase the socio-cultural participation and empowerment of people living with mild to moderate stages of dementia (PLWD) through an interdisciplinary engaged research approach that combines service design and psychology with a co-design methodology. This user-friendly service will allow PLWD to plan, connect with and participate in tailored opportunities to realise themselves and contribute to society. The fellowship will use a co-design approach (Niedderer et al. 2019), working with PLWD, their relatives/familial carers as well as relevant stakeholders. It will develop the service model, i.e. the principles for format, content and delivery of the I-Do service, which it will implement and evaluate through a pilot in the area of Manchester, UK. The I-Do service addresses a key need of PLWD to be able to contribute and to be valued for it: Tournier et al 2017 found that PLWD are looking for more self-determination, to conduct activities on their own, to continue to learn new things and to be creative as well as to feel useful to others. This corroborates an investigation by Schölzel-Dorenbos et al. (2010) on this understudied topic, which shows that social contact, attachment, being useful/giving meaning to life, enjoyment of activities, and self-determination and freedom are key aspects of unmet needs for PLWD. I-Do will address these unmet needs through its novel interdisciplinary engaged community approach to develop the understanding of relevant and appropriate services for PLWD and to support the realisation of local and national policies regarding dementia friendly communities in the UK.