Seeking Truth, Comfort, and Connection: How Conversational User Interfaces can help Couples with Dementia Manage Reality Disjunction

Reality disjunction, when people present contradicting worldviews as true, frequently occurs in conversations between people with dementia and their partners due to memory gaps, distortions, fabrications, or unsuccessful communication. These couples can feel isolated and frustrated when trying to reconcile their memories or diverging perceptions of the world. Conversational User Interfaces (CUIs) can be used to help people with dementia with their cognitive needs, but their role in helping with reality disjunction is unexplored. Through semi-structured interviews, we examined how six couples (composed of people with dementia and their partners) experience reality disjunction and explored CUIs' potential roles in mediating these situations through speculative designs. We found that addressing reality disjunction depended on what couples valued in their interaction. Each person may value the truth of what happened, but may let go of this when aiming for comfort, and empathise with their partner when pursuing connection. Potential roles for CUIs to help couples explore these values include helping them check and explain their memories, reducing their distress during reality disjunction, and helping people practice different responses to reality disjunction.