The purpose of our study is to provide comfort through digital resources (e.g., music and visual materials) for patients/residents with dementia in hospitals and long-term care. By working with users (patients/residents, families, and staff) and using a co-design approach, we have developed a mobile app prototype called “WhatMatters” to equip staff with a useful digital tool for delivering person-centered care in hospitals and long-term care homes. Using user experience co-design methods, we conducted a series of virtual co-design workshops with acute and long-term care staff (n=10), clinical experts (n=3), residents (n=3), and patient and family partners (n=7) to understand: (a) what “comfort” means, (b) how care needs are communicated and provided for, and (c) how a mobile app may be used to support psychosocial needs of people living with dementia in hospital and long-term care settings. Thematic analysis has identified three themes to inform the development of the mobile app WhatMatters: (a) familiarity brings comfort, (b) sharing of information between staff and families allows for continuity of care and person-centered care, and (c) accessible and curated content can evoke memories and create a comforting space. Our study conclusions are: It is feasible and necessary to work with users (including clinical staff, patient, and family partners) and relevant stakeholders to co-design a mobile app, a useful tool to support the delivery of person-centered care in care settings.

There is limited literature on using visual videos and images with people with dementia in care settings. We conducted a scoping review on this topic to fill this literature gap. Our scoping review adopted the Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology. We eventually included eleven papers for the review and conducted the content analysis. We found the facilitators for implementing visual videos and images with people with dementia in care settings: 1. Matching people’s interests 2. Being congruent with people’s cognitive abilities 3. Support from families and staff 4. Using in a group setting. We also found the barriers: 1. Staff is unwilling to support 2. Lack of resources 3. Not congruent with the cognitive or other abilities of the people. We found benefits of using visual videos and images with this population: 1. Encourage expression 2. Facilitate discussions with other people 3. Improve well-being. We also found drawbacks: the potential of arousing negative emotions and memories. We suggest future research should include the voices of people with dementia, staff should be trained to support the people in case negative memories and emotions are aroused, and there should be consideration of using visual videos and images to tackle isolation and loneliness in care settings. With these findings, this scoping review should shed light on implementing visual videos and images in care settings.