SENSE-GARDEN

The progressive impact of dementia on memory, communication, behaviour, orientation, and mood can have serious implications for an individual’s wellbeing. Whilst there is currently no cure for dementia, it has been suggested that activity involvement can improve the quality of life for individuals living with the disease. Activities such as sensory stimulation and reminiscence therapy have been shown to have positive effects on mood, memory, and self-identity. People with dementia will visit the SENSE-GARDEN room, accompanied by a caregiver, professional or family member. The SENSE-GARDEN will adapt itself to the life experiences of its visitor by connecting to a digital Life Book with her or his history and memories. The person’s favourite music fills the room; photos of familiar places are displayed, like the church next to the house where she or he lived when younger, or showing people such as family members and friends. The project includes four countries in which the SENSE-GARDEN is tested: Norway, Belgium, Romania and Portugal.

Objectives

There are 47 million people living with dementia worldwide and expected to increase to 131 million by 2050. A person with dementia experiences loss of function, especially memory, eventually affecting verbal communication and ultimately creating disconnection from the close ones such as family and friends. The SENSE-GARDEN project will create rooms that automatically adapt to the memories and lives of their visitors with dementia. The aim is to evoke and awaken emotions by providing stimuli to the different senses, such as sight, touch, hearing, and smell, leading to a re-connection with the reality around.

Expected Results and Impact

The main question to be answered in SENSE-GARDEN is: can we use a technological adaptive space, stimulating senses with music, images, smells, to be used as a therapy offered to older adults living with dementia to reduce the progression of the disease? The project will use these immersive spaces, simulating images of mountains, music of singing birds, and forest aromas. We expect to be able to access lost areas of the memory in persons with dementia and to help them re-connecting to reality. SENSE-GARDENS in four countries will be totally operating at project end to attract European marketing interest.

Partners

Partners involved in the SENSE-GARDEN project

Organization	Type	Country	Website
University Hospital of North Norway	R&D	Norway	www.ehealthresearch.no
Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy from Bucharest	End User	Romania	www.umfcd.ro
Odda Municipality	End User	Norway	www.odda.kommune.no
Sta. Casa da Misericordia	End User	Portugal	www.scml.pt
Compexin S.A.	SME	Romania	www.compexin.ro
Vulpia Vlaanderen VZW	End User	Belgium	www.vulpia.be
e-Point	SME	Belgium	www.e-point-the-electronic-point-of-care.com
Norwegian University of Science and Technology	R&D	Norway	www.ntnu.no

Project name: Virtual and memory adaptable spaces creating stimuli for the senses in ageing people with dementia
Website: sense-garden.eu
Coordinator: University Hospital of North Norway
Duration: 36 Months
Starting Date: 01.06.2017
Total budget: € 2,1 mi
Public contribution: € 1.3 mi

Contact

Artur Serrano

E.: jarturserrano@gmail.com,

T.: +47 9668 3435