User experience and sustainability of person-centered services - A case study on caregiver workshops and services by a bar type of restaurant
Authors: Ihara Masayuki , Tokunaga Hiroko , Nakashima Tomomi , Saruwatari Shinpei , Goto Hiroki , Umezaki Yuuki , Hisano Shinya , Motoe Masashige 
Published: January 2024

To develop a care service which satisfies each patient’s demands, we should focus on a trade-off between individual cares and work efficiency. Satisfying demands of elderly people has an impact on social significance of empowering them, but it may not be sustainable as a business due to efficiency issues. This paper introduces an analysis on a balance between individual cares and work efficiency towards development of a person-centered care service.Person-centered care is a principle to deeply understand each patient [1]. There is a practical framework of the person-centered care, called DCM, Dementia Care Mapping [2]. However, it is difficult to operate under the framework at care sites due to there being too many operations in the DCM cycle. A development of new care services to replace the framework is expected, but they should be designed based on a person-centered principle.We focus on a methodology to create services based on the person-centered principle. There is a trade-off between individual cares for better user experience and work efficiency for service sustainability. Each patient has their own unique life backgrounds and values thus care services should be designed with consideration of them so that the services can support independent living of each patient. In particular, it is important to satisfy them by individual cares and social connections because elderly people live a lonely life after they have retired from work or have lost family or friends. In this study, to explore a balance between individual cares and work efficiency, we analyzed those two factors in opinions of on-site care workers and managers of nursing facilities.We held a 3-time workshop with care workers and analyzed questionnaire responses of the participants. The first workshop was to investigate their empathy with the care recipients. The second workshop was a free discussion on the issue of recipient’s loneliness. The third workshop was a lecture on the person-centered care followed by participants reflecting on their own care behaviors. We also held a workshop with managers to discuss a gap between ideal of providing person-centered cares and practical issues of business continuity. This workshop consists of three topics: social contribution through person-centered cares, sustainability as a care service provider and a balance between ideal and realty.The workshop with care workers revealed the need for efficiency to solve the busy work situation, and the importance of providing a good experience to care recipients, including the relationship with family and surroundings. In the workshop with managers, problems about cost bearers, understanding from society, and the long-term care insurance system were pointed out. As a result of case study of discussing utilization of artificial intelligence technologies, we confirmed the importance of considering the cost bearer by both benefits such as risk management on the service provider side and benefits by individual cares on the user side. We also obtained an idea of applying the technologies to parts which cannot be supported by the care insurance system.We also conducted a qualitative analysis on a service in a bar-type restaurant used by many solo customers as a model case of individualized customer service and efficient use of limited resources. We abstracted the analysis results and discussed application to nursing care service development. Future work will include detailed analyses on requirements for a concrete care service and development of a methodology of person-centered design.[1] Kitwood, T. and Bredin, K. (1992) Towards a theory of dementia care: Personhood and well-being, Ageing and Society, Vol.12, No.3, pp.269-287.[2] University of Bradford: Dementia Care Mapping, https://www.bradford.ac.uk/dementia/training-consultancy/