The Dementia project

Early-stage support for informal caregivers caring for their parent with dementia

Our client Regie op Dementie (ENG: Managing Dementia)t, an NGO focused on helping family caregivers better care for their parents with dementia, was curious whether, if we recognise the disease earlier, we could provide better support and a more dignified path for both the person with dementia and their loved ones

Community Spirit
Together with Wina Smeenk, professor of Societal Impact Design and Esther Krijnen, senior researcher in Nursing at the University of Inholland, we set up a co-design research approach to help us understand how families can recognise dementia earlier. Unbeaten Studio designed and facilitated 4 co-design sessions with family caregivers from rural and urban areas with a migration background, as well as with professionals in the field of behavioural change and (in)formal caregiving. We wanted to understand both the living context of the loved ones and of their parents and how they related to each other. We created tools and exercises to help us gain these insights.

Intelligent Adaptation
The research helped us identify 4 caregiving archetypes: the Care Coordinator, the Loving Carer, the Meaningful Carer, and the All-giver. And we came up with over 30 ideas, which we narrowed down to 8 potential viable interventions. We paired each archetype with what we thought were the best-fitting interventions. We tested prototypes of the archetype narratives and the interventions with caregivers who had earlier participated in one of our co-design sessions.

CTA- Intervention Booklet

Longterm Stewardship
We paired community involvement from the beginning with the creation of recognisable, relatable solutions tailored to the needs of a specific archetypal caregiver and the parent with dementia. This ensures they can use the interventions quickly or adapt them to their situation to relieve stress and mental overload.

How did nature inspire us during the project?

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