A Digital Life Story to Support Person-centred Care for Older Adults With Dementia Perspectives

Person-centred care can be supported when healthcare professionals access and actively use the information recorded in a life story. Active use of the life story can create security for a person with dementia and their carers. The written life story describes the person and their life experiences, which can define the person's identity. National guidelines for care and nursing in dementia and Blekinge's regional guidelines emphasise the importance of care and nursing for people with dementia, which should be given with a person-centred approach, where the life story becomes a tool for healthcare professionals. Research shows that a life story can be designed in several ways. For example, in book form, as a brochure, collage, memory box or electronically. The life story is also intended as a tool for healthcare professionals to create security and facilitate communication with the individual. As more and more older adults are using computers and tablets as assistive devices, and it is also becoming more common for healthcare professionals to use, for example, tablets as assistive devices in nursing care, the life story could be shared in digital form as an application and become a living document. Overall aim: To test an application for the life story with the intention of supporting person-centred care for older adults with dementia and to test whether the application can replace the written completion document. Study I: Exploring the research area of the life story in digital form. Study II: Focus group interviews with healthcare professionals. Study III: Test the application, Min Memoria. Study IV: Observations on the use of the application.