Prof. Tom Dening – Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia: how can technology help?
Channel: Applied Cognition Technology and Interaction Group
Date: 2022-04-06

Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia is a term that has been in use for about 25 years. BPSD refers to the non-cognitive elements of dementia, and is therefore a very mixed group of phenomena, including (for example) depression, psychotic symptoms, apathy, agitation, sleep and eating problems. This presentation will discuss the use of BPSD and the importance of these non-cognitive features. BPSD are common in all forms of dementia and tend to increase as dementia progresses. They are important determinants of outcomes, including dementia progression, mortality, admission to long-term care, and carer stress.
Technology spans a wide range of items, systems and approaches that affect all our lives. It needs to be borne in mind that not everything is IT. Technology has different applications in dementia, especially according to the stage of the condition and also reflecting the needs of individuals. A lot of currently available technology is aimed at memory and cognitive problems, less so at behaviour and emotional needs. Important issues include how to support people with dementia using mainstream technology, and also how to increase emphasis on good design, usability and effectiveness of any new products.