Dialogical perspective on the use of digital communication tools in interaction involving people with dementia.

BACKGROUND: While dementia is predominantly associated with cognitive impairments, communication and participation in social activities have been reported as areas where people with dementia experience immense challenges. The extent to which a person with dementia is able to participate in communicative activities does not only depend on the severity of the individual condition, but also on the interactional environment, the actions of co-interlocutors and the organization of the material surrounding. In this presentation, focus is on aggregated results from several projects where two digital communication supporting tools for people living with dementia have been developed. The tools are both built around conversation stimulation materials (video clips, photos and music) with the difference that one (CIRCA) includes generic material (i.e., photos of famous people and top list music) and the other (CIRCUS) uses personalized materials (i.e., photos of family members and favourite songs).

METHOD: The study comprises four different datasets with in total 18 participants with dementia engaged in either dyadic or group communication activities, both with and without digital communication support. All sessions were video recorded and analyzed by means of multimodal interactional analysis.

RESULTS: The results showed that digital communication support has the potential to facilitate participation in conversational activities for people with dementia. Conversations involving digital support were longer and the participants with dementia took more initiatives compared to conversations without digital support.The results also showed that in group activities, the participants with dementia were able to initiate and maintain conversations without support from a group leader. The participants with dementia further orient towards each other as competent and knowing.

CONCLUSION: There is a need for communication activities within dementia care, and activities focusing on communication are much appreciated by people with dementia. Digital communication support applications have the potential of enhancing and facilitate such activities. This in turn, may contribute to increased participation and social inclusion for people with dementia.