This research addresses the potential of mobile technologies for enabling creative and collaborative intergenerational activities between elders with early stage dementia, their peers, family, friends and/or caregivers. It also concerns aspects and barriers of use with mobile technologies for elder participants and their peers. We seek to gain a deeper understanding of narrative storytelling in general, and collaborative digital/physical artifact creation and collection alongside narrative arrangement in particular, with a specific population of caregivers, and associated geriatric outpatients who have mild to moderate dementia and memory loss of the Alzheimer's type.

This study is intended to extend understanding of the effects and benefits to memory, benefits to spoken language, and potential benefits to well-being, socialization and increased interactions with family members, friends, and caregivers, through use of our touchscreen tablet application. The application has both digital and physical outputs: a digital Postcard Memories gallery and book; physical postcards, which can be printed from within the application and mailed through Canada Post ; and a Postcard Memories book, which will allow collected postcards to be arranged and rearranged by the elder and their family members or caregivers into a pleasing narrative format.

GRAND 2014 Research Note Presentation

Creator: 
Sponsor(s): 
Designing the Postcard Memories Application
Saturday, April 13, 2013 - 3:00pm