Dementia-Friendly Home Modifications: Creating a Safe Place.

Dementia friendly design encompasses a number of design principles that make an environment easier for a person with dementia to negotiate. When someone with dementia is still living in their own home, a place that they have lived in for a long time, it’s important to change as little as possible.

If you were to make all possible dementia friendly changes in the home of someone who is living with dementia, they would fail to recognise their own environment and become lost in it as if they were in a strange place. So, in the person’s own home you should change as little as possible apart from increasing the light level and removing any trip hazards or other hazardous features.

If the person is moving to a new place such as a new apartment or moving into a care setting, that is where the dementia friendly designs can be implemented. This is particularly true for communal settings such as a nursing home, where a high turnover of people with dementia may live over the lifetime of the building. I get frustrated when I see care settings for older people where fashion has been prioritised over function.

And what are the principles? Everything should be as obvious and familiar as possible.

• Pay attention to the light level and ways of keeping an uncluttered environment that is easy to negotiate.

• Be aware of the sound environment and use soft furnishings to help absorb noise and clutter.

• The colour of floor coverings matters. A person with dementia will walk more safely over a smooth matte single coloured surface.

“A better way of helping with wayfinding is the use of signage with either pictures or words to help the person find their way about. Some people think that signage is institutional looking, but there is nothing more institutional than becoming lost in the place where you live. ”

Sometimes I see colour coding in dementia environments which is intended to help people find their way about. Colour coding is a kind of language, and it’s a new language that the person with dementia would have to learn. A better way of helping with wayfinding is the use of signage with either pictures or words to help the person find their way about. Some people think that signage is institutional looking, but there is nothing more institutional than becoming lost in the place where you live.

Assistive technology is a very important element of the dementia friendly environment. The use of movement sensor lights can help the person to move more safely throughout their environment. These are not very expensive and easy to install.

Because sleep disturbance is often an issue in dementia the design of the bedroom is quite important. The person will sleep better in a warm bed in a cool room. And any form of light whether that’s from the street light or the moon outside is likely to add to sleep disturbance. Getting up in the night to go to the bathroom is a very common occurrence and movement sensor lights can help with this.

There are dementia friendly features that you can install in your bathroom including useful devices that will prevent flooding or scalding. Think about the door lock in the bathroom and if the door opens inwards. Sometimes a person will fall in the bathroom and it’s very difficult to get in to help them because the door opens in the way and they’re lying against the door.

The design features that help in the kitchen and the dining room are all about familiarity. Helping people see where things are by using bright light and colour contrast is essential.

And when thinking about design don’t forget outdoors. Making a dementia friendly outdoor space is hugely enhancing for the life of both the person with dementia and their carer. There is much more information about this in the book or audio book Dementia the one-stop guide.