Observational Analysis as a tool for improving the quality of life in people with dementia

Initially, at the beginning of designing this project, it was thought to use 'mapping' by Dementia Care Mapping (DCM); however, as the state of the art was conducted and consulted, it was noted that despite its effectiveness, it presented a 'still picture' of what happens to the person at the time when the mapping is performed and this project seeks a 'dynamic' picture. Within the 'dynamism' of the situation, the aim is that, as people evolve in their daily lives, the direct care staff are able to adapt to the new requirements of the users, not the users being the ones who conform to the requirements of the Centre.

For this reason, in the framework of this project, a proprietary tool has been designed based on the DCM methodology, improving it by incorporating a design in line with the Centre's care expectations for the user.

Additionally, the proposed tool is customisable; i.e. it is not rigid in the solutions it offers, but rather is modifiable for each case. On average, an 'expert' mapper in the DCM can monitor up to 5 people for 6 hours per day.

Therefore, rethinking this project was considered in order to respond to this need to better understand the user that the direct care staff treats through observational analysis, taking into account their expectations, desires and life history to improve the quality of care, preventing the depersonalisation of people with dementia and thus achieving person-centred care; even if they have lost the ability to express themselves through verbal language.