From 2-16 December, MinD was hosted by Alzheimer Europe for its final secondment. This two-week secondment, was the last of the MinD secondments to be hosted by Alzheimer Europe. It focussed on two important aspects of the project: The first was drawing together the insights and results of the project for academic, public and policy audiences. This includes guidelines for co-designing, i.e. for working together with people with dementia during the design process. It also includes recommendations for policy providers, funders, voluntary organisations, designers and design academics regarding the recognition, benefits and best practices of applying design in the dementia context. All publications will be available on the project website, on completion of the project: www.designingforbehaviourchange.eu
Secondly, and most importantly, Kristina Niedderer and Kathryn Powell went to Brussels to present and discuss some of the outcomes of the MinD project with members of the European Working Group of People with Dementia (EWGPWD). Following a brief overview of the MinD project, the presentation focused first on the “This is Me” board game and the very positive results from the evaluation with people with dementia in four countries (UK, Netherlands, Germany, Spain). Kristina Niedderer then presented the “Living the Life” booklet which includes a set of six simple mindfulness exercises. First, all together and then in pairs, the group explored some of the exercises. One of the exercises about the appreciation of oneself and others through a hug proved very popular. The exercises prompted the group to tell about their own rewarding experiences with mindfulness and related training to help in dealing with dementia. The discussion showed how much more common the use of mindfulness had become during the four-year duration of the project.
