The researchers of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology developed an interactive app for caring relatives of people with dementia to support them and the affected persons in their everyday life. The aim of the research project is to provide professional knowledge, training and rapid assistance in challenging situations via smartphone.
The communication skills and changed behavior of the person affected by dementia can quickly overtax the caring relatives. A better understanding of the disease as well as strategies for communication and the organization of everyday life can help to reduce the negative consequences of care responsibilities. It is also important not to lose sight of one's own needs. With the solution developed within the SUCCESS project, caregiving relatives of people with dementia are provided with a simple smartphone app that supports them in coping with everyday challenges. "The results of a 6-month field study with over 60 participants have shown that both caring relatives and professional caregivers can benefit from SUCCESS," reports project manager Markus Garschall from the AIT Center for Technology Experience. Project member Julia Himmelsbach further explains: "A customized information and training offer can help to better understand the needs of people with dementia, to react respectfully to changed behavior patterns and thus contribute to a positive interaction.
For example, the app suggests sentences that can be used to better calm people suffering from dementia in stressful situations, for example when they have lost their bearings. Test persons report that they have used the suggested texts of the Success App, in part literally, and that this was very well received by those affected, which had a positive effect on their daily interaction with each other.
Knowledge transfer and emotional support
To support different learning types and usage situations, the SUCCESS app uses articles and videos as well as avatar-based role-plays and training units. Role-plays make it possible to try out action strategies in a secure virtual space and learn suitable communication strategies. In the role of the virtual trainer, the avatar supports caring relatives in not forgetting their own well-being despite their responsibility for another person and in dealing with their own feelings correctly. Recommendations for joint activities also provide inspiration for shaping everyday life with a person with dementia.
SUCCESS App should soon be available to a larger group of users
The interactive app "SUCCESS" was developed under the direction of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology together with companies and research institutions from Austria, Cyprus, Romania, Norway and Canada. With the completion of the 6-month field study in Austria and Romania, the research project was successfully concluded in February 2020. "Together with partner organizations from the field of social service providers, we are now working on further developing SUCCESS in order to be able to make the app available to a broader population group in the future," Markus Garschall sums up. The goal is to create an easily accessible extension to existing consulting and self-help services. Information and training offers tailored to the needs of the specific target group should thus also make a dementia-friendly environment possible for those affected.
Further information:
SUCCESS was supported within the framework of the AAL program by funds from the European Commission and national funding agencies.
AIT-Contact: Julia Himmelsbach