Closer to Nature
Interactive Installation Design for Elderly with Dementia
Carlijn Valk, Xu Lin, Loe Fijes, Matthias Rauterberg and Jun Hu
Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Keywords: Dementia, Elderly, Senior Citizen, Interactive Installation, Tangible Interaction, Care Home, Animal Therapy.
Abstract: Dementia is a serious degenerative neurological condition that affects cognition and memory, often
accompanied with depression and anxiety. As explicit memory deteriorates, the implicit memory remains, so
sensory stimulation and tangible solutions become increasingly important to people with dementia. This paper
presents the design, implementation and evaluation process of Closer to Nature, an interactive installation
aiming to provide opportunities for people with dementia in care facilities to feel more connected to nature.
Closer to Nature aims to do so by combining the soothing effect of nature and the animal therapy via tangible
interaction with tactile stimulation. Based on the feedback we collected, we analyse the insights from the
interactive installation design for seniors with dementia in their living environment and discuss the potential
of utilizing tangible interaction to help facilitate the supportive environment for the elderly.
1 INTRODUCTION
Dementia a serious degenerative neurological
condition that affects cognition and memory abilities
and is not a natural part of aging (Alzheimers
Association, 2015). Dementia often makes living
independently impossible and puts a high strain on
the informal care of family members, so that many
seniors suffering from dementia move into care
facilities. In the Netherlands for example, 70.000 of
the 260.000 people living with dementia, live in care
homes (Alzheimer Nederland, 2015). Between 2011
and 2030, the number people living with dementia
will increase by 70% (Deltaplan Dementie, 2014).
This growing population increases the pressure on
care providers. At the same time, this growth
indicates the need and the opportunity to explore
interventions for improving the level of care and the
life quality of people living with dementia (Sharp,
2007).
Due to the cognitive degeneratoin caused by
dementia, symptoms include trouble with retaining
new information, memory loss, trouble with verbal
communication, confusion, and paranoia
(Alzheimer’s Association, 2015). The increasing
confusion and resulting social isolation of these
symptoms lead to negative emotions like loneliness,
anxiousness and depression.
However, though an individual’s explicit memory
disintegrates due to dementia, the individual’s
implicit memory, or procedural memory, is often
maintained for some time (Treadaway, 2014). The
implicit memory can be triggered by sensory input,
thus enabling the opportunity for engaging
experiences even without productive communication.
This fact indicates a potential field for the researchers,
not only from healthcare, but also from design and
technology backgrounds, to explore the possibilities
of creating interventions which can engage and
stimulate people with dementia in a positive way, so
as to reduce the negative impact from their symptoms.
Figure 1: Closer to Nature in Dutch Design Week 2015.
The interactive installation we present in this
paper, Closer to Nature (Figure 1), is designed to
create positive simulation and engaging experiences
for the seniors with dementia living in a care facility.
In this installation draws upon the soothing effects of
228
Valk, C., Lin, X., Fijes, L., Rauterberg, M. and Hu, J.
Closer to Nature - Interactive Installation Design for Elderly with Dementia.
DOI: 10.5220/0006378502280235
In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health (ICT4AWE 2017), pages 228-235
ISBN: 978-989-758-251-6
Copyright © 2017 by SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
nature and the principles of animal therapy to enrich
the living environment for residents of the care home
by building up a remote connection with the outdoors
through tangible interaction.
In the following we introduce first, related works
about relivant therapies and design projects. Next, we
describe the design, implementation and initial
evaluation results of the installation in detail. Finaly,
we will discuss the insights and future work of this
project.
2 RELATED WORK
2.1 Relevant Therapy for Dementia
Therapies for dementia can be divided in to two main
camps. The first aims to stagnate the progression of
the decrease in cognitive function utilizing
pharmaceuticals, arts/creativity tactile experiences,
and brain training, which exercises the mind to keep
it active (Alzheimer’s Association, 2015). The
second, focuses on remedying negative emotional
side effects of dementia such as anxiety or aggression,
by improving residents’ mood, through nostalgia
therapy, snoezeling rooms, doll therapy, music
therapy or animal therapy. In this paper, we focus on
the later.
Nostalgia therapy encourages residences to
recall memories and communicate verbally through
engaging with objects from the past (Dempsey,
2012). However, this therapy is controversial due to
the risk of undesired painful memories being recalled.
Doll therapy is considered to be helpful in
relieving a resident’s sense of helplessness by
offering the individual a chance to provide care and
feel a sense of purpose. Doll therapy is also
controversial because seeing a senior loved one play
with dolls can leave their family feeling
uncomfortable. Meanwhile, some care homes
encourage residents to complete simple chores, to
support a resident’s sense of self and contribution
(Miller, 2013). However, this can be taxing for the
already busy care provides.
The snoezeling rooms, often a separate room in
the care home, provide stimulating yet soothing
environment. These spaces are meant to relax
residents and by stimulating their senses seem to have
a positive effect on the mood of many residents
(Baker, 1997).
Animal therapy also addresses resident’s mood
through and provides for a joyful experience.
Residents respond positively to animals while petting
is tactile and allows for sensory stimulation
(Nordgren, 2014). As people with dementia
eventually lose the ability to care for pets, residential
dementia facilities enlist external organisations to
bring common pets and farm animals to the care
homes for animal therapy sessions. Unfortunately,
though interacting with animals is widely enjoyed by
residents, the cost of keeping or transporting animals
and the extra burden on care providers to facilitate
these visits, are often prohibitive. As a result, these
happy petting sessions only occur a few times a year.
2.2 Related Designs for Dementia
Over the years, there have been many products and
much research aiming to improve the quality of life
and create a supportive environment for people with
dementia in care facilities.
One of the major direction is design exploration
on sensory stimulation through textiles and tactile
interaction to help recall pleasurable memories,
engage people with specific activities and facilitate
communication. The Dementia apron is a highly
personalized textile outer garment, which is created
from textiles relating to the resident’s personal
background. When worn by the resident, it can
provide tactile stimulation as the resident touch the
familiar textiles (Treadaway, 2015). Tactile Dialogs
pillow uses E-textiles to provide its users with a
tactile experience to facilitate communication
between residents and their loved ones through touch.
This interaction is simple yet creates an implicit,
sensory experience (ten Bho
̈
mer, 2013). Another
pillow product, the Discover Dementia Pillow,
allows people with dementia to play different pieces
of music by simply touching the various patches of
different textiles on the pillow (Brankaert, 2015).
Another direction for design is to take a more
holistic approach and look into the environment of the
care home, providing immersive experience with
relaxation and pleasure while reducing confusion and
wondering. Typical examples include the interactive
lighting and sound art installation designed for elderly
with dementia to explore, play and relax (Gu, 2013),
as well as the interactive wall embedded in care
home’s living room, presenting photos from family
and residents’ familiar places, in order to draw
residents’ attention to facilitate communication and
reduce wandering (Robben, 2012). In addition, the
soothing effect of nature is also taken into
consideration by many researchers. Grinde and Patil
argued in their research on biophilia that “viewing
natural landscapes provides psychological and health
benefits, including a reduction in stress”, and
interacting with nature seems to have “positive effects
Closer to Nature - Interactive Installation Design for Elderly with Dementia
229
on health and wellbeing” as well (Grinde, 2009). In
the context of Healing Gardens, the importance of the
outside cues like time of day or season of year was
emphasized, as dementia causes damage to the
chiasmatic nuclei and thus a lack of these clues can
lead to disrupted sleep patterns (Zeisel, 2005). Many
care homes also use static images and plastic plants
to mimic the outdoor spaces with a similar intention.
In this field, different strategies or therapies can
be combined to achieve new products and services.
Paro, for example, is a robot baby harp seal that
responds to touch, sound, heat and movement
(Grinde, 2009). Paro aims to combine the benefits of
closeness to nature and other therapies, like animal
therapy, and doll therapy. Care-bots of this kind
inspire similar reactions from residents as real
animals do, without burdening the care providers with
the extra care and hassle real animals do. In this way
these can be considered useful when logistic
challenges prohibit therapy animal visits. However,
care-bots may also propose the ethic dilemma about
whether researchers and care providers deceiving
residents with dementia if they allow the residents to
believe the bot is a real animal (Johnston, 2014).
In summary of the mentioned therapies and design
products, one important insight is that sensory
stimulation plays an important role in design for
people with dementia, providing pleasant experiences
for them to engage with the products or environments,
and stimulating the elderly to communicate, which
may postpone further cognitive decline. The soothing
effect of nature, appreciated by many researchers and
designers, can also be considered as one approach of
multi-sensory stimulation.
The other insight, however, is that though many
of the mentioned therapies and design solutions help
in facilitating positive feelings and communications,
they also meet risks and challenges when deployed
for the elderly. Among these mentioned approaches,
animal therapy and being in nature seem to be widely
accepted approaches with positive effects and least
risks, but the impact is hindered by the heavy logistic
cost. This situation indicates a potential space
remained for designers and researches to investigate.
In this paper, based on specific context in local
care facilities, we explored through the design
process of an interactive installation for the elderly
with dementia to feel more connected to nature. It is
aimed to achieve an immersive experience via tactile
input and tangible interaction, taking advantages of
the soothing effect of nature and animal therapy.
3 DESIGN OF CLOSER TO
NATURE
3.1 Context Exploration
Early investigation on local care institutions,
including shadowing, observation and interviews,
illustrates a situation that care givers are often fully or
even over occupied with work, but the average time
of care for individuals is still very limited, due to the
large population of residents. There is an urgent need
in care homes to help keeping the residents with
dementia in a calm or relatively positive mood, as
well as engaging them with some activities and
reducing wandering. Since individuals’ reaction
towards therapies and interventions varies according
to their complex personal life backgrounds and their
stages of dementia, a design with neutral, calming and
constant intervention might be more appropriate and
less risking to the major group of residents when
dealing with multi-user context or providing products
with public access to most of the residents in the care
facilities. In the early investigation, a clear affection
towards nature and animals expressed both by care
givers and the residents with dementia indicates a
potential direction for design researchers to explore:
creating an engaging immersive experience to help
the people who have to stay inside care facilities feel
more connected with nature, improving residents’
emotions and possibly helping to reduce wandering.
The initial prototype was built and tested in 3 care
facilities specially for dementia, and the refined
prototype was constructed and presented in a
common care home during Dutch Design Week 2015,
as a field trial for embedding the installation into the
daily living environment. The detailed design and
evaluation process will be introduced in the following
parts.
3.2 Design Concept of Closer to Nature
Based on the insights from related work and early
investigations in local care facilities, the interactive
installation, Closer to Nature, was designed to explore
the possibilities of using tangible interaction to create
supportive and responsive environment inside the
care home, combining the soothing effect of nature
and the principles of animal therapy to provide an
opportunity for residents to feel more connected to
the outdoor nature environment.
The concept includes a large high-resolution
screen that continuously presents a live feed sent from
a rural location or an animal therapy farm, which will
ICT4AWE 2017 - 3rd International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health
230
allow the residents of the care home to enjoy the green
lands and lively farm life, as well as to gain the
implicit information about the weather, time of day
and season of the year. The installation also offers a
simple tangible interaction with a tactile stimulation:
pumping real water into a troth in front of the big
screen with an old water pump. The pump and the
troth are made of metal and in old styles which were
commonly seen in residents’ childhood. Since the
implicit memory of touching and using these tools
still remains in their mind, touching the installation,
pumping water and swiping the water in the troth can
give the residents a pleasant tactile stimulation with
familiar feeling from the farm life they used to have,
which may encourage the residents talking about their
experience to others.
Furthermore, in order to enhance the connection
between the indoor space and the nature spot, there is
also a simulated interaction of feeding happening
after water pumping: when the system of Closer to
Nature detects a resident interacting with the pump, it
sends a video feed of the farm animals being fed on
the other side of the screen. This interaction simulates
feeding animals on a farm. This caring action, may
support a resident’s positive self-image by fulfilling a
sense of responsibility. Due to the low engaging
threshold and the simple interaction, this installation
is supposed be attractive in several stages of
dementia.
The whole installation is designed to provide
ambient information of nature, simulate the old
farming life and create immersive experience through
the tangible interaction with different kinds of tactile
stimulation, and building up remote connection
between residents and the farm life via the feeding
interaction. This is not a solution to replace the
current care activities that use animal therapy and the
effect of nature, but a supplementary intervention in
the context where animal visits and outdoor trips into
nature seldom occur due to the burden on financial
and human resources of the care facilities.
3.3 Implementation of Prototypes
3.3.1 Prototype (I)
The first prototype (Figure 2) was built up with a need
to be constructed and deconstructed easily, since it
needed to be tested in 3 different care homes. The
wood structure of the troth was made in a simple and
flexible style, and a projector was used to present the
farm scene instead of a big screen.
Figure 2: Set up for Prototype (I).
In addition to being easily transportable the troth
also had to be short enough for the animals to feed
while still tall enough for the adult residents to
comfortably reach it without stooping down. When
being set up and projected with the outdoor scene, the
troth need to be seen as one half inside the living room
and the other half outside on the farm. An antique
cast-iron pump was used for people to pump, as it is
common on old farms, and many of the elderly were
familiar with it. The inside structures were modified
in order to make pumping operation less strenuous
and the installation easier to install in a care home. An
infrared motion sensor was installed in the cast-iron
pump to recognize if the pump was being used. An
electric water pump was used to really pump water
instead of the cast-iron one. It was connected to a
relay which would be switched on and off by Arduino
code according to movement sensed by the infrared
motion sensor. Processing was used to continually
play the life feed videos unless a signal from the
Arduino interrupt it, then it selected a random video
of farm animals being fed to play. The residents could
continue to pump water without disrupting the
feeding scene, since the system was designed to only
listen to the new interrupt after one video playing was
finished. In addition, to display smaller animals like
rabbits a big-screen TV was incorporated into an
authentic living enclosure. Though, the TV mainly
played the non-interactive video recordings it served
to enhance the immersive experience of being with
nature.
3.3.2 Prototype (II)
The Prototype (II) was a refined version of Prototype
(I), according to the new context and new location it
needed to be embedded in, while the whole design
concept and the basic interaction were kept the same
(Figure 3). During Dutch Design Week 2015,
Closer to Nature - Interactive Installation Design for Elderly with Dementia
231
Prototype (II) was built up and exhibited inside a care
home, taking up the space of a meeting room at the
end of the hall way on the ground floor, and open to
the public.
Figure 3: Setup for Prototype (II).
The whole meeting room was redesigned and
decorated into a small common room with sofas,
small tables and a fireplace. The projector used in
Prototype (I) was changed into an 80” high-resolution
TV screen with very high quality image. The troth
was re-designed to look like a piece of furniture
existing in the common room, and was rebuilt into a
stable structure that could not be moved easily instead
of the flexible one used before. The goal of these
changes was to make the whole installation more like
a window that people can look through when they
have a rest in this common room. When people
pumped water into the troth, the animals on the farm
would come close to the window to drink the water.
A fake wall was built in the similar style to the real
wall’s, hiding all the devices and the real windows of
the room, in order to make the installation more
embedded in the original environment. The electronic
components and the structure inside installation were
kept the same with Prototype (I). More feeding videos
were added into the system and would be selected
randomly to play when people pump, in order to make
the simulation more like the real-time interaction.
In current stage, the real-time video stream of the
remote farm was not implemented in either of the
prototype, mainly due to the lack of Internet
environment and constant outdoor recording tools.
The real-time performance was simulated by a group
of pre-recording videos.
4 EVALUATION OF CLOSER TO
NATURE
The evaluation of Prototype (I) included two parts:
part 1 was conducted mainly through observation and
interview, aiming to examine how and to what extent
this installation would have an effect on the mood of
residents in the care homes; part 2 was conducted
with questionnaire and interview, to compare the
difference of effect between interactive installation
and non-interactive installation. Since the residents
with dementia often had difficulty in verbal
communication, the evaluation results heavily relied
on the care givers’ answers and explanation.
Prototype (II) shares the same design concept and
interaction process with Prototype (I), but installed in
a more open and general context, not specially for
people with dementia like Prototype (I), but involving
common residents and public visitors as well. The
evaluation was mainly based on observation and short
interviews, and the qualitative analysis can be
considered as a supplementary analysis on the whole
design concept. The insights from Prototype (II) was
more focused on exploring the important factors in
the design of this concept and the installation.
4.1 Prototype (I)
4.1.1 Experiment
In part 1 of the evaluation, the whole installation was
set up in a small living room where the residents could
visit the installation in small groups accompanied by
one or two care providers. The care givers filled in the
background information of general emotional state
and stage of dementia for each resident before
inviting them to the room in which the installation
was set up. While the residents interacted with the
installation, the care givers observed the residents’
behaviour and aided in the interaction with the
installation if necessary. The researchers observed
and recorded their observations throughout the
process interfering as little as possible, and
subsequently interviewed the care givers after the
experiment. In this interview the care giver’s
observations of the residents’ reaction were discussed
and the emotional state of the resident compared to
the information filled before the experiment.
In part 2, the credibility/expectancy questionnaire
(Devilly, 2000) was used to compare the result of
using the interactive installation and only watching
the nature and animal life feed. There were 12
participates (3 male and 9 female, ranging in ages)
who completed the survey. All of them were
employed as professional care providers for people
with dementia. This was a within group comparison
in which all the participates saw and compared the
two installations.
For the first round, each of 12 care givers was
introduced to the live feed of the farm without the
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232
interactive element of the installation, and they were
allowed to ask any questions about what they were
seeing. During this time, residents were also
encouraged to look at the life feed, and many care
givers started to engage in conversations about the
life feed with the residents or their colleagues. After
this, they were asked to complete the questionnaire
before leaving the room. Their answers were kept
anonymous. The second round followed the same
process as the first one, while the interactive system
was switched on, so the care givers and the residents
could interactive with the installation. After
experiencing the installation, care givers were asked
to fill in the questionnaire again. In addition, care
givers were asked some open-ended questions about
to what extent and in what way they envisioned the
installation being used. They were also asked to
describe what profile of resident they expected would
benefit most from the interactive installation.
4.1.2 Result
Overall the results from observation and interviews
were positive, both from the care givers and residents.
The reactions of many residents were interaction
without verbal feedback, since many of them did not
verbally communicate well. The residents who did
speak talked about the animals, such as reacting to the
goats that nudge each other and naming what the
rabbits were eating. They also mentioned their own
farms and the animals they had had.
According to the short interviews with the care
professionals after the experiment, the interaction of
pumping water to feed animals could be considered
pleasant for the residents. They mentioned the
installation to be fun and inviting. In addition, it was
considered to be appropriate for all stages of
dementia. The care professionals described how
people in different stages would use the installation
differently. For instance, someone in an early stage of
dementia might actively interact with the pump and
talk to other residents or care providers, while
someone whose dementia had progressed further
might only sit and watch the quite farm scene or
watch other residents as they interacted with the
installation. Safety of using the installation was the
most serious concern, including the stability of the
troth if residents used it to support their weight and
spilled water causing a slipping hazard.
Quantitative data, however, did not show a
significant difference between the interactive
installation and the non-interactive projection. The
questionnaire was asked with Likert scales, 3
questions on credibility and 3 on expectancy. The
participants needed to rate each answer from 1 to 9.
Credibility rating of installation without interaction
was 22.92, above the middle score of 15, with a
standard deviation of 2.33. The expectancy rating was
17.85, above 15 as well, with a standard deviation of
2.56. Credibility rating of the interactive installation,
was 23.08, above 15, with a standard deviation of
3.62. The expectancy rating of the interactive
installation was 18.18, with a standard deviation of
4.24. Although, both credibility and expectation
received relatively high score, compared to the
middle score 15 which meant neutral towards the
questions, there seemed to be little difference in the
credibility and the expectancy rating between the life
feed and the life feed with interactive installation. The
scores of interactive one were slightly higher than the
other, but due to the lack of utilizing random order for
within group experiment, the difference was not that
convinced.
Figure 4: The result of the credibility/expectancy
questionnaire.
4.2 Prototype (II)
4.2.1 Experiment
Prototype (II) was installed in a care home during an
exhibition, which indicated a mixed situation that the
location was not only a living environment with all
the functions of a care home, but an exhibition
environment with public visitors during the daytime
as well. The drawback of this was that sometimes the
daily routine of the residents might be interrupted by
visitors, while in general the exhibition in the care
home attracted more residents to come downstairs to
see the installation, and brought people with different
backgrounds to visit, which was helpful for us to gain
more feedbacks.
The evaluation process was relatively flexible,
compared to Prototype (I). Residents, care givers and
other visitors explored and played with the
Closer to Nature - Interactive Installation Design for Elderly with Dementia
233
installation by themselves first, and they were
welcomed to ask any questions about the installation.
The researchers took notes for the visitors and asked
them short open questions after they experienced the
whole interaction process, such as which part they
liked most and which part they preferred to improve
if this was an installation really used in senior
residents’ daily life for longer period of time.
4.2.2 Result
During the exhibition (9 days from October 17th to
October 25th), there were more than 220 people
visiting the installation, with 198 people recorded
during the observation. Among the records, there
were 38 senior visitors and 13 of them could be
considered as the residents of the care home
according to the conversations. 44 people had
backgrounds related to design, and 18 people had jobs
related to elderly care, including doctors, teachers
from nursing schools, care givers and the volunteers
of this care home.
Most of the visitors had obvious positive reactions
like laughing or exclaiming to the animals appearing
after their pumping, especially when the donkeys
appeared, which seemed to be treated as a surprise or
bonus reward due to donkeys’ bigger sizes among the
farm animals. Many visitors pumped again to call the
animals back when they finished drinking and left,
and some visitors even tried to touch the animals on
the screen like touching a pet. Meanwhile, this
feeding interaction and the animals did encourage
people to start talking and sharing about their own
experience. Most of the elderly visitors talked about
the farms they had lived on, and some middle-age
visitors mentioned stories of their relatives who were
suffering from dementia. The seniors with dementia
who came with their caregivers also showed interest
in the installation. For example, one elderly woman
kept coming back during the whole week, talking
about her experience of using a similar pump in old
days, and another lady sat in front of the troth,
keeping watching and asking the names of different
animals.
The short interviews showed that the interactivity
of the installation was appreciated by most of the
visitors, and was expected to be enriched with multi-
sensory stimulations and stronger connections with
the real world changes. For example, the installation
could also simulate the smells and sounds from the
nature environments, and the scenes could change
along with the seasons. However, most of the positive
feedbacks about the interactivity were given by the
people with design and health care backgrounds.
There are few elderly people specially mentioned
about the interactions in their comments. Most of the
senior visitors kept talking about the animals, the
farm showed on screen, and their own memories of
the old days. Unlike the interactivity, visitors
expressed their appreciation towards the materials
and the physical structures of the installation, no
matter what backgrounds they had, since the cast-iron
pump in old fashion and the wood troth made them
feel more tangible, less technical and friendly.
5 DISCUSSION
According to the evaluation results from the two
prototypes, in generally, the installation of Closer to
Nature can be considerer to be able to bring positive
influence for the residents with dementia in care
homes.
Reactions towards the nature scene with animals
and tactile stimulations were observed in both
prototypes’ evaluations. Senior residents showed
their interest and gave positive feedbacks through
watching, laughing, regularly visiting, pumping,
talking, and even touching the animals on the screen.
The observation results indicate the potentials of this
installation to create immersive soothing experience,
facilitate communication and help engaging the
elderly people with specific activities to possibly
reduce wandering.
Although the quantitative analysis of care
professionals’ feedbacks did not show significant
difference between interactive and non-interactive
installations, the interactivity of this design was
appreciated by most of the people in both qualitative
evaluations. One reason leading to this quantitative
result could be the short time span of the installation
being presented in the care homes, so that participants
had very limited periods of time to experience the
interaction and compare. This indicates a need for a
long-term research with real life settings to gain a
convinced answer about the influence of interactivity.
In addition, most of the people who appreciated
the interaction and wanted it to be enriched were the
ones with design and health care backgrounds, rather
than the senior residents in the care home. It still
needs exploration to see whether and how the richer
and more complex interactions can be understood by
the elderly people and contribute to the immersive
experience in their living environment.
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6 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE
WORK
Closer to Nature aims to offer a richer living
environment to people with dementia living in a care
facility, through suggesting a remote connection with
nature. It is designed to provide an immersive
experience, combining the natural soothing effect of
nature with the principles of animal therapy through
tangible interaction design. The evaluation of two
prototypes indicates its potential to facilitate positive
influence on residents’ mood. The tactile stimulation
brought by the pump and the troth, and the tangible
interaction of pumping water to feed animals were
appreciated by most of the participants.
In the future, further investigations, such as long-
term evaluations, still need to be conducted to draw a
more validate conclusion on whether and to what
extent the connection with nature created through
tangible interactions can contribute to a pleasant
experience in the daily life of the elderly people with
dementia living in care facilities.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the four care facilities,
Marie
̈
nburght in Budel, Admieraal, Archipel, and
Vitalis Berckelhof in Eindhoven, for helping us doing
the investigation and user test.
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