VIPCare: Understanding the support needed to create affective interactions between new caregivers and residents with dementia

INTRODUCTION: In this paper, we study the support needed by professional caregivers of those with dementia, and present a first step toward development of VIPCare, a novel application with the goal of assisting new caregivers at care-centres in interacting with residents with dementia. METHODS: A mixed-methods study including two questionnaires, two focus groups, and seven co-design sessions with 17 professional caregivers was conducted to (a) understand caregivers’ challenges/approaches used to reduce negative interactions with persons with dementia, (b) identify the existing gaps in supporting information for improving such interactions, and (c) co-design the user interface of an application that aims to help improve interactions between a new professional caregiver and persons with dementia. A pre-questionnaire assessed knowledge of smartphones and attitude toward technology. A post-questionnaire provided an initial evaluation of the designed user interface. RESULTS: Focus groups emphasized the importance of role-playing learned through trial and error. The layout/content of the application was then designed in four iterative paper-prototyping sessions with professional caregivers. An iOS/Android-based application was developed accordingly and was modified/improved in three iterative sessions. The initial results supported efficiency of VIPCare and suggested a low task load index. CONCLUSIONS: We presented a first step toward understanding caregiver needs and developing an application that can help reduce negative interactions between professional caregivers and those with dementia.