Reminiscence of People with Dementia Mediated by a Tangible Multimedia Book

With the growing senior population the number of people with dementia is rising rapidly. Besides currently limited-pharmaceutical treatments, psychosocial interventions play a major role in ensuring the life quality for people with dementia. Among these is reminiscence therapy, which helps people to remember episodes of their past life and maintain their identity, while the disease progresses. The research presented in this paper explores the role of a tangible multimedia artifact to support reminiscence sessions. We describe the development of an interactive book that was tested in a care home with people with dementia and caregivers. We present findings on the interaction with the book, its potential to mediate reminiscence and communication, and on the perspective of caregivers using the book in the sessions.