Technological innovation for dementia

Pleasant, my name is Tim van Santen, I am 25 years old and recently completed my Master Health Innovation. I’m committed to people with dementia.

In my research I have been able to experience what it is like to live with dementia. I was allowed to get very close to the person and have developed empathy about what it’s like to have dementia.

In the year and a half since I started this journey, a lot has become clear to me. No one wants to lose their self-reliance. No one wants to be let down by their own cognition. Feelings of uncertainty, confusion and dependence have touched me.

What I have come across too much in my search for a solution are tools that confirm the dependence on people with dementia. Providing security, limiting freedom, everything to make the caregiver feel comfortable. No solution to give people with dementia back control of life.

My mission is to put the needs of the person with dementia first. Provide a sense of security. A cognitive prosthesis developed from the needs and abilities of people with dementia. To which you can fall back and with which your independence and freedom is maintained. “Imagine a memory which is outside you and responsive to you but doesn’t control you” (Inglis, et al., 2004).

Figure 1 design TimeSteps

TimeSteps is a cognitive prosthesis/ smartphone that guides people with dementia through the day. TimeSteps’s ultimate goal is to give people with dementia back control over their own lives and reduce the burden of disease on the environment. People need to experience more independence and feel confident.

TimeSteps focuses on supporting prospective memory (being able to plan ahead), retrospective memory (what has happened in the past) and acting (how do I use this). This only works if the tool is recognizable and not stigmatising: that is the smartphone. The smartphone is part of an ecosystem in the house, where voice messages, projections and photos are supported in memory.

By collecting data about the use and returning it to the user, the functionalities remain supportive, at any stage of dementia. TimeSteps is shrinking with the course of the disease. In the beginning, you might use seven widgets on the home screen, and in the final stage, all you need is one button to call your partner.

The research

Nearly 30 people with dementia, partners, occupational therapists and case managers contributed to the study.

Invitation

In 10 years we want 270,000 people with dementia (70%) directly involved in TimeSteps and responsibly increase the number of people living at home with dementia from 70% to 80%.

Are you in?