A home and landscape for a sense of purpose in late life

Challenging in the face of many losses and negative biases is our last phase of life, the late life. We end up in nursing homes out of sight from our communities, we are viewed as valueless and stripped away from our own desires and standards. During a stay in a care home these observations led to the confronting conclusion that almost all old...

DiaMediPort increasing elderly agency by improving triage at home

The rapidly aging Dutch baby boom generation threatens to overwhelm the healthcare system in the Netherlands (Hoedeman & Koki, 2020). The elderly, more than any other age group, are more prone to experiencing a steep decline in physical and cognitive health during hospitalization (Brown, 2020; Mathews, Arnold & Epperson, 2014). 61% of...

Intimate relationship development for the elderly: Transition from 'Volkstuin' (community garden) to residential environment

The family is the most intimate social environment given to us, and this basic social element plays an important role as we get older. However, changes in family structure and increasing physical distance between family members due to globalization make it difficult to care for the elderly by the family. In the global age, distance from the most...

Het Verticale Hof: De omgeving zorgt voor ouderen

The population of the Netherlands is ageing. The number of people above 65 is expected to grow from 3.1 million in 2017 to 4.8 million in 2040. The increasing ageing population results in more elderly in need of care and a lower percentage of young people able to provide formal care. The classical welfare state seems to gradually change to a ...

Pushing the envelope in oral care: Designing the next generation toothbrush

Poor oral care for the elderly is seen as one of the most pressing problems in our current health care system. Poor oral health can leads to pain, frustration, problems with eating, underfed elderly, problems with speaking and low self-esteem. Additionally it increases the risk for pneumonia, diabetes, organ infections, osteoporosis,...

Living Knowhere: Research and design on dementia and architecture

Due to our aging population, numbers of people with dementia are constantly increasing, while both the cause and cure are still unknown. At the end of a lifetime, after all a person has been through, it is hard to let go. It is hard to let go on home, on memories, on one self. Due to the disease, many things become insecure and one’s life falls...

Plezant: Improving the social interaction between elderly in institutional care settings

Activity plays an important role in maintaining health and avoiding excess disabilities in later life. This is not only true for physical activity, but also for mental activity and the according mental health. Example of a beneficial activity that keeps the brain healthy and preserves mental functionality is social activity or in other words...

Design of an exoskeleton arm support, which helps caregivers lift disabled clients

The topic of this graduation project is to “Design an arm support for a powered exoskeleton to help caregivers lift disabled clients”. It is connected to a PhD project on the Faculty of 3me in TU Delft, which aims to develop an exoskeleton for the caregiving industry. The idea is to decrease the physical and psychological stress caregivers...