Developing Health Services
Environmental Design for People with Dementia: Charting the gap between theory and practice in the design of residential facilities
Charting the gap between theory and practice in the design of residential facilities. Five Tasmanian Residential Aged Care Facilitates (RACFs) that accommodate people with dementia, as well as 10 sites in Victoria and New South Wales, are involved to: (i) investigate the design of Residential Aged Care (RAC) settings, which accommodate people with dementia with reference to evidence‐based dementia design principles and, (ii) to explore barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence based design within the residential aged care setting.
The WDREC and the UTAS Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology co‐funded Professor Fay to undertake a study tour of exemplary RACFs in northern Europe and to visit relevant and highly regarded researchers and research groups in this field. This study tour has provided Professor Fay with a level of knowledge that allows him to contribute to the research efforts of Professor Fleming et al. Outcomes: Environmental Audits have been completed on 5 Tasmanian facilities (1–5) using the Environmental Audit Tool, developed by Prof Richard Fleming (Fleming, R., I. Forbes, and K. Bennett, (2003) Adapting the ward for people with dementia. Sydney: NSW Department of Health). The project is continuing with a sample of 5 facilities in NSW. Environmental audits have taken place in these facilities. Interviews with architects and key stakeholders will be completed within one month. Project report.
Research Team:
Professor Richard Fleming, Director of Dementia Services Development Centre, Hammond Care (Group Leader)
Professor Roger Fay, Head of School of Architecture and Design, UTAS
Professor Andrew Robinson, WDREC Co-Director (Contact Person)
Dr Sharon Andrews, WDREC Research Fellow