Impact of Sustainable Product Design on Elderly Ergonomics

Abstract

With an unprecedented increase in the ageing population in the global context, 47 million people are currently living with dementia worldwide according to the World Health Organisation Report-Dementia: A Public Health Priority (2017). Although there is a number of research that contributed to the design of health-and-safety products for people with dementia, co-designed elderly health care products or research are scarce. This paper aims to fill the gap in research by, firstly, co-designing and developing a series of ten sets of elderly ergonomics board games to delay the deterioration in cognitive function, behavioral changes and functional limitations of elderly with dementia; and secondly, examining the impact of the elderly ergonomics products on their six recognized physical and cognitive domains; namely memory, language, recognition, visuospatial function, numeracy and attention. By utilizing qualitative research methodology, this research employed desktop study, observation, semi-structured face-to-face interviews, and focus groups discussions to understand the experiences of this set of co-designed products on the impact of health development on the ageing population. The paper provides an insight into both psychological and health impact and development of a specially designed health care product design on the dementia cohort in Hong Kong aged 65 to 95. The findings of this research can make significant contributions to the scholarly understanding of the enhancement of elderly's health and living environment since Hong Kong is confronted with a severe ageing demography.