Title: Opportunity-Led - Developing and testing the InspireD reminiscence app as a stand-alone support for people living with dementia and their families
Funder: Public Health Agency, NI

Abstract: Reminiscence has been widely used as a therapeutic approach for people living with dementia and their carers. Reminiscence works on the understanding that the memories can be accessed in the early to moderate stages of dementia. Recent studies have focused on the use of technology to support reminiscence but there remains a lack of robust research in this area. Technology based reminiscence activities can be rapidly accessed and ready for use or quickly personalised to the individual and family. While there are a range of commercially available apps, these are limited by the lack of involvement of people living with dementia in their design and testing. There is also limited research on the role of technology in supporting home-based, personalised reminiscence for people living with dementia and their carers. In July 2018, a team of researchers from Ulster University led by Professor Assumpta Ryan, published a study which investigated the outcomes of a home-based, individual specific reminiscence intervention using an iPad app for people living with dementia and their family carers. The study was jointly funded by the PHA R&D office and The Atlantic Philanthropies under the Dementia Care Commissioned Programme. Results revealed that people living with dementia used the app independently and more frequently than their carers. Quantitative results showed an increase in mutuality, quality of caregiving relationships, and emotional well-being for people living with dementia. Qualitative findings highlighted the impact of the reminiscence experience at an individual and relationship level for people living with dementia and their carers. The reminiscence experience also appeared to facilitate the development of new insights among participants that emphasised abilities and gains rather than disabilities and losses. Carers tended to become more relationship-focused, whereas people living with dementia highlighted the significance of learning new skills. The study concluded that individual specific reminiscence supported by an iPad app can have a positive impact on people living with dementia and their carers at an individual and relationship level. Having established the potential of the InspireD app, the next stage is to further develop the app as a stand-alone support for people living with dementia and their carers. The use of the original InspireD app was preceded by the provision of reminiscence and IT training by the Research Team. However, in the next iteration of the InspireD app, we wish to integrate the IT and reminiscence training into the app so that it can be used as a stand-alone support on an on-going basis for greater numbers of families living with dementia. We have the support of our original partners, Dementia NI and the Reminiscence Network for Northern Ireland (through AgeNI) to build on the findings of the original research. In addition, Age NI has expressed an interest in working with us to roll out the app on a larger scale through their many initiatives for supporting community dwelling people living with dementia and their families.


Research activity codes: 7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS
Health categories: NEUROLOGICAL