BACKGROUND: The care sector for persons with disabilities considers the physical environment relevant for the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities. However, scientific evidence is limited. OBJECTIVE: To obtain evidence regarding comforting and encouraging environments and to develop an overview of studies addressing the effect of the physical environment on people with intellectual disabilities. METHODS: A scoping review, accompanied by expert panels and case findings combining scientific evidence and knowledge from practice, was performed to investigate the interaction between challenging behaviour and the physical environment. Between January and March 2020, several scientific databases were searched in the English, Dutch, and German language for relevant studies. Social media, care professionals, and experts in building physics were consulted. RESULTS: Studies on building-related factors as passive interventions and care- or therapy-related interventions could be distinguished. The majority of the studies report on building-related factors such as sound, acoustics, light, and colours and their influence on behaviour. Specific guidelines are lacking on how to adjust the indoor environment to an environment that is safe, comforting and encouraging for people displaying challenging behaviour. Proposed solutions are case-based. CONCLUSION: In future studies individual cases could be studied in a more in-depth manner, aligned and categorised to the building-related factors and to the expressions of challenging behaviour.
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In an aging population, the prevalence of people with dementia is increasing. Intelligent environments can offer a solution to support people in the early stages of dementia, who often experience problems with maintaining their day-night rhythm. The focus of this work is developing an Intelligent Environment for assisting these people with their daily structure while living independently at home. Three co-creation methods with several stakeholder groups were used to elicit requirements and develop a prototype of an Intelligent Environment. Participants were involved in sessions using Mind Maps (N=55), Idea Generation Cards (N=35), and in a multidisciplinary design team with representatives of eight organizations. The result of these sessions was a set of 10 requirements for the Intelligent Environment on the following topics: context-awareness, pattern recognition, adaptation, support, personalization, autonomy, modularity, dementia proof interaction, costs, data and privacy. Based on these requirements, several scenarios were developed to explicate such an environment for supporting people with early dementia. The design team translated the requirements to a real-life prototype of an Intelligent Environment integrated into a demonstration home. The prototype serves as a basis for further development of Intelligent Environments to enable people with dementia to live longer independently at home.
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This paper analyses how managed coworking spaces affect the innovation process of their members. Managed coworking spaces are working environments for independent professionals, with an active role of the manager of the space to foster collaboration and interaction. These locations emerged in the late 2000s and were designed to host people who endeavor to break isolation and to find a convivial environment that favors meetings and collaboration (Moriset, 2013). It is often taken for granted that coworking contributes to innovation (Botsman & Rogers, 2011). Earlier research discussed outcomes of coworking, such as cooperative working (e.g. Leforestier, 2009, Spinuzzi, 2012), getting access to new knowledge (van Winden et al., 2012), or having new business opportunities (Groot, 2013). Yet, it is not fully understood how coworking spaces can be effective in fostering these outcomes, and what role management could play. The managers of coworking spaces deploy a variety of strategies to foster interaction and collaboration, but there has been very little systematic analysis of the effects on interaction and innovation. This paper proposes a typology of strategic management tools applied by coworking spaces, and aims to shed light on the effectiveness for interaction and innovation. In the empirical part, we describe and analyze two coworking spaces in Amsterdam. The implications for proprietors of coworking spaces and policy makers are analyzed in view of the potential contributions of these spaces to local collaborations, knowledge transfer and new business opportunities.
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This paper outlines the main differences between ecocentric and anthropocentric positions in regard to justice, exploring university students’ perceptions of the concepts of social and ecological justice and reflecting on how values assigned to humans and the environment are balanced and contested. Putting justice for people before the environment is based on evidence that biological conservation can disadvantage local communities; the idea that the very notion of justice is framed by humans and therefore remains a human issue; and the assumption that humans have a higher value than other species. Putting justice for the environment first assumes that only an ecocentric ethic guarantees protection of all species, including humans, and therefore ecological justice already guarantees social justice. This research shows that many students emphasize the convergence of social and ecological justice where human and environmental interests correspond. While not wishing to diminish the underlying assumptions of either ethical orientation, the common “enemy” of both vulnerable communities and nonhuman nature, as identified by students, is an ideology of economic growth and industrial development. http://dx.doi.org/10.13135/2384-8677/2688 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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Intelligent environments can offer support to people with early-stage dementia, who often experience problems with maintaining their circadian rhythm. The focus of this work is developing a prototype of an Intelligent Environment for assisting these people with their daily rhythm while living independently at home. Following the four phases of the Empathic Design Framework (Explore, Translate, Process, and Validate), the needs of people with dementia and their caregivers were incorporated into the design. In the exploration phase, a need assessment took place using focus groups (N=12), observations (N=10), and expert interviews (N=27). Then, to determine the requirements for a prototype of an intelligent environment, the second phase, Translate, used three co-creation sessions with different stakeholder groups. In these sessions, Mind Maps (N=55) and Idea Generation Cards (N=35) were used. These resulted in a set of 10 requirements on the following topics: context-awareness, pattern recognition, adaptation, support, personalization, autonomy, modularity, dementia proof interaction, costs, data, and privacy. Finally, in the third phase, the requirements were applied to a real-life prototype by a multidisciplinary design team of researchers, (E-Health) tech companies, designers, software engineers with representatives of eight organizations. The prototype serves as a basis for further development of Intelligent Environments to enable people with dementia to live longer independently at home.
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Previous investigations of consumer subcultures in the CCT tradition focused primarily on consumer behaviours, feelings, experiences and meanings of consumption. This paper advocates that in order to deeply understand and interpret a particular subculture, researchers in consumer culture should consider more thoroughly the interaction between consumers and producers in consumption markets. This argument is illustrated with a research project on lifestyle sports. From the results of this study it appears that producers play a vital and interdependent role in meaning and interpretation processes. It is argued that processes in which consumers give meaning to activities can not be isolated from the processes in which producers ascribe meanings to activities, settings and markets. In this 'circuit of culture', production and consumption are not completely separate spheres of existence but rather are mutually constitutive of one another (Du Gay, Hall, Janes, Mackay, & Negus, 1997).
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Aim: There is often a gap between the ideal of involving older persons iteratively throughout the design process of digital technology, and actual practice. Until now, the lens of ageism has not been applied to address this gap. The goals of this study were: to voice the perspectives and experiences of older persons who participated in co-designing regarding the design process; their perceived role in co-designing and intergenerational interaction with the designers; and apparent manifestations of ageism that potentially influence the design of digital technology. Methods: Twenty-one older persons participated in three focus groups. Five themes were identified using thematic analysis which combined a critical ageism ‘lens’ deductive approach and an inductive approach. Results: Ageism was experienced by participants in their daily lives and interactions with the designers during the design process. Negative images of ageing were pointed out as a potential influencing factor on design decisions. Nevertheless, positive experiences of inclusive design pointed out the importance of “partnership” in the design process. Participants defined the “ultimate partnership” in co-designing as processes in which they were involved from the beginning, iteratively, in a participatory approach. Such processes were perceived as leading to successful design outcomes, which they would like to use, and reduced intergenerational tension. Conclusions: This study highlights the potential role of ageism as a detrimental factor in how digital technologies are designed. Viewing older persons as partners in co-designing and aspiring to more inclusive design processes may promote designing technologies that are needed, wanted and used.
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Poor well-being amongst older adults poses a serious health concern. Simultaneously, research shows that contact with nature can improve various facets of well-being, including physical, social, and mental well-being. However, nature is not always accessible for older adults due to mobility restrictions and related care needs that come with age. A promising strategy aims at bringing nature inside through pervasive technologies. However, so far, there is little academic understanding of essential nature characteristics, psychological processes involved, and means for implementation in practice. The current study used a three-folded rapid review to assess current understanding and strategies used for improving well-being for older adults through virtual reality representations of nature. Searches were performed across three databases, followed-up by content-based evaluation of abstracts. In total, a set of 25 relevant articles was identified. Only three studies specifically focus on digital nature as an intervention strategy for improving well-being amongst older adults. Although these studies provide useful starting points for the design and (technological) development of such environments, they do not generate understanding of how specific characteristics of virtual nature representations impact social well-being measures in particular, and of the underlying psychological processes involved. We conclude that follow-up research is warranted to close the gap between insights and findings from nature research, gerontology, health research, and human-technology interaction.
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The model of the Best Practice Unit (BPU) is a specific form of practice based research. It is a variation of the Community of Practice (CoP) as developed by Wenger, McDermott and Snyder (2002) with the specific aim to innovate a professional practice by combining learning, development and research. We have applied the model over the past 10 years in the domain of care and social welfare in the Netherlands. Characteristics of the model are: the interaction between individual and collective learning processes, the development of (new or better) working methods, and the implementation of these methods in daily practice. Multiple knowledge sources are being used: experiential knowledge, professional knowledge and scientific knowledge. Research is serving diverse purposes: articulating tacit knowledge, documenting the learning and innovation process, systematically describing the revealed or developed ways of working, and evaluating the efficacy of new methods. An analysis of 10 different research projects shows that the BPU is an effective model.
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In March 2020 schools in The Netherlands closed to contain the spread of Covid-19 virus. Shortly after, schools took to online education. The condensed setting of the Covid-19 situation provided a background to study which learning activities and tools teachers choose in online education and how they use them to promote interaction. Interaction is quintessential to learning but in online education it is not easy to provide room for interaction. Our central research question therefore is how interaction within online education activities change over time. An online longitudinal survey amongst teachers was conducted. The first four rounds took place in the early stages of the lockdowns and shortly after. In total 179 different secondary school teachers participated of whom 16 responded three rounds or more. Most teachers use tools in online education that can facilitate more interaction than necessary for the Instructional Design. This means that improving interaction in online education is more a pedagogical challenge than a technical one. It was also found that teachers who deploy Instructional Designs that require more interaction use more and different tools. However, only few of these tools seem to facilitate the interactive quality the teachers pursued. Over time we saw the interactive quality of Instructional Design and tools converge. We are in awe of the artful way in which some teachers manage to combine the possibilities of different tools to establish high interactive quality in the online learning processes they conduct.
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