| Title |
A Study on the Design of Therapeutic Environment in a Nursing Home for the Elderly with Dementia |
| Keywords |
Nursing Home for Dementia ; Therapeutic Environment ; Social Interaction ; Spcae Utilization |
| Abstract |
With the increase of the average life span, there has been a growth in the population of the elderly, and consequently, it gave rise to the number of old people suffering from dementia. The severity of the disease brings not only to the person himself, a mental, physical, and economic burden, but also to his family and care-givers. The objective of this study is to create a therapeutic environment in a nursing home for elderly with dementia. This study examined 26 subjects who are suffering severe dementia from three nursing homes. Spatial features such as visibility, physical proximity, functional accessibility, hierarchy of space have been analyzed to examine the correlation between the behavior such as social contacts, utilization of space, and wandering behavior of elderly with dementia. The results of analysis indicate that the more visible, functionally and physically accessible, and public in it's hierarchy the communal space is, the more social contacts between patients and colleagues, or staffs happened and more frequently the space is utilized. Some implications for designing the nursing home for dementia based on the results are also suggested. |