Editorial for Advances in Human-Centred Dementia Technology

It is estimated that 55 million people are living with dementia worldwide in 2021, and the numbers are expected to rise to 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050 (Siriaraya et al., 2022; World Health Organisation, 2022). Dementia is an umbrella term that describes neurodegenerative disorders that impact memory, cognition, language, and behaviour (Beck et al., 1998; Cohen-Mansfield, 2001; Kane, 2001). Along with symptoms of dementia such as forgetfulness, disorientation and communication, People with Dementia (PwD) often lose their sense of autonomy and capacity to make decisions in various or all aspects of their life (Garcia-Palacios et al., 2002; Jones et al., 2015).

Currently, there is no cure for dementia. Thus, promoting well-being in PwD or Quality of Life (QoL) is considered a quintessential measure of effective dementia care (Van Nieuwenhuizen and Nijman, 2009). QoL for dementia care is multifaceted, which includes measures related to i. physical comfort, hygiene, and wellbeing, ii. safety, security, and order, iii. maintaining a sense of autonomy, dignity, and privacy, as well as iv. living a meaningful life, individuality, maintaining relationships, and enjoyment (Kane, 2001). However, such measures of QoL can be challenging to achieve due to the complexity of dementia symptoms (i.e. cognitive decline, losing the ability to communicate, behaviour that challenges, etc.) (Hennelly et al., 2021) and families’ burden of caring for PwD against other competing priorities (Sury et al., 2013). In the case of institutionalised care, care settings suffer from understaffing and a low retention rate (Brown Wilson, 2009; Bunn et al., 2020), which leads care settings to focus on delivering everyday care (i.e. physical safety, assistance in eating and bathing) over other psychosocial QoL measures (Hicks et al., 2022). As such, there is an immense need to develop tools, interventions, and solutions to preserve and promote PwD’s QoL and overall physical, emotional and mental well-being.

We discuss key areas of digital technologies which are relevant to dementia care. We then conclude by summarising the six papers of this special issue.