Designing Novel and Engaging Interactions with and for Residents Living with Dementia and their Visitors

Abstract: This paper describes the interaction mechanism and content design of the "A Better Visit app" - a collection of touch screen tablet mini-games developed for people living with dementia and their visitors to create enjoyable shared experiences and spark social interaction between them. The published collection, available on the App Store and Google Play for tablet devices, is made up of eight different mini-games. The games were developed and refined over an 18-month co-design and observation process and matured to solutions that support easy to use games leading to meaningful interactions during the visit. Emphasis is placed on different sensory and creative experiences, skill development, and communication between the visitor and resident to live their relationship in the moment of time. The outcome are a specialised set of interaction mechanisms and recommendations developed to aid in the accessibility of the technology experience for people living with advanced dementia.