DichtErbij

About the project

During the peak of the Corona crisis. Healthcare organization de Omring was looking for a solution for family members to stay in contact with their loved ones. The goal was creating a digital platform allowing caretakers to help Alzheimers patients stay connected with personal pictures and written-, audio and video messages. The challenging part was creating an experience/interface that was beneficial to the patient, supporting the caretaker and involving family members.

The problem

This project was challenging because of the target group of users. First off, the capability to operate a digital device, is not a given for people who suffer from Alzheimers disease. Another complication is the fact that most staff that works in todays elderly homes aren’t all tech savvy and are already coping with a major time shortage, so you can’t bother them with managing a complicated application.

The solution

The solution was to create an interface that catered to the three user groups on an individual level. This is important because they are all very different user persona’s, who’s approach to- and benefits of the medium are very different. Namely:

– The patient: Is not always able to use an iPad on their own. And can not handle a lot of stimuli at the same time.
– The caretaker: Does not get a lot of time per patient, so can’t be bothered with  managing the content. Has little experience with digital media.
– The family: Want’s the best for their loved one. Is more used to using digital media.

Outcome

Using each users main motivation, resulted in the following outcome:

– The patient: Just has to sit and look at content, while talking with the caretaker.
– The caretaker: Get’s to know the patient on a more personal level. Using an easy interface.
– The family: Can upload content to the app remotely via a separate app, so the content is personal and private.