Co-creating Design Opportunities for Social Technology in the Context of Dementia

Maintaining social participation in late life is an important component of general well-being. For people with dementia, participating in social interactions may become increasingly challenging with the progression of the condition. Social technologies can potentially support and empower them in this setting, yet there is a need to get a comprehensive understanding of how their social participation is hindered and facilitated through technology. This paper presents the outcomes of four co-creation sessions conducted together with four couples. We explored their experienced social challenges and identified opportunities for design to improve their social participation. These focus on compensating for internal and external barriers through design, enhancing agency through the social and physical environment, and learning from previous experiences with existing social technologies. Furthermore, we provide recommendations for future research in the context of social technologies for people with dementia. We argue that design-research should focus on embracing the importance of a broader social context, sharing meaningful activities, and incorporating social contact into the everyday routines. The significance of these outcomes indicates the relevance of well-designed novel social technologies to enrich people’s with dementia experience in the social context.