The use of technology for arts-based activities in older adults living with mild cognitive impairment or dementia: A scoping review

Abstract

For older adults living with mild cognitive impairment or dementia, creative arts-based activities can offer many benefits from enjoyment as leisure/recreation to an avenue to maintain cognitive, social and emotional wellbeing. With growing interest and recognition that technology could have potential to assist in delivering these activities in more accessible and personalised ways, a scoping review was undertaken to systematically examine the scientific literature for technology-assisted creative arts activities for older adults living with dementia. We searched PubMed, PsychINFO, Web of Science, Scopus and ACM Digital Library databases using keywords centering on population with dementia, an intervention using technology, and a context of creative arts, with no restrictions on the type of outcome measured. We retrieved 3739 records, with an additional 22 from hand-searching. 51 full-text articles met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Findings of the review indicate technologies principally being designed for music activities (listening, and music-making), as well as storytelling and visual arts. The majority of devices were custom-made, with studies mainly reporting on validating the success of the device/intervention. This suggests most work in the field is currently at prototyping stage, although a few devices are now commercially available. Recommendations for future research includes involvement of participants reporting on their previous experiences in the arts and how this influences co-design choices, and inclusion of different severities of dementia in the participant/co-design group. Furthering device development past prototyping stage as well as collaboration between teams would enable comparisons to be made across different types of devices used for the same activity, and comparisons across arts-based activities that could lead to cross-disciplinary outcomes for the design of creative arts-based assistive technologies.

Online gallery facilitated art activities for people with dementia during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A narrative review

“…We identified 11 articles providing insights on how everyday technologies could provide a medium for engaging in gallery-based art activities during a pandemic (Boag et al, 2022; Bradbury et al, 2021; Evans et al, 2015; Hung et al, 2018, 2019, 2021; Joddrell & Smith, 2019; MacRitchie et al, 2022; Stewart et al, 2022; Sweeney et al, 2021; Tyack & Camic, 2017; Tyack et al, 2017). Jodderell and Smith (2019) provide an overview of the importance of enabling people with dementia to continue engaging in social and leisure activities and how technology may be incorporated into people’s lives.…”

“…Similarly, examining research relating to the use of touchscreen technology by people with dementia, Joddrell and Astell (2016) found that few studies focused on using such technology for entertainment or leisure purposes and recommended this as an avenue for further work, given the usability of touchscreen technology by people with dementia has been established. A scoping review of the use of technology for arts-based activities in older adults living with mild cognitive impairment or dementia conducted by MacRitchie et al (2022) provides an update on research in this area highlighting devices and applications designed to enable digital music listening and making, art viewing and making, film-making and storytelling. Of relevance to the current review is a study conducted by Tyack et al (2017) which involved 12 dyads of people with dementia and their carer being asked to use a specially designed application to view a selection of images of works of art sourced from three London museums on a tablet at least five times over two weeks.…”

Evaluation of an online arts-based platform to support the health and well-being of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional survey

“…However, to our knowledge, no arts-based intervention exists that offer both a diverse range of arts-based and other programs that can be widely accessible (via an online platform) by older adults with variable physical, cognitive and social functioning. A recent systemic review investigated arts-based technology interventions but it targeted older adults with cognitive impairment and dementia only [33]. Additionally, most existing arts-based interventions involve a single type only (e.g., visual arts, music, dance, fitness), lacking the diversity of activities that would cater to the broad interests of older adults [33].…”

“…A recent systemic review investigated arts-based technology interventions but it targeted older adults with cognitive impairment and dementia only [33]. Additionally, most existing arts-based interventions involve a single type only (e.g., visual arts, music, dance, fitness), lacking the diversity of activities that would cater to the broad interests of older adults [33]. Our study fills this gap by investigating the impact of an innovative arts-based, online program called "Art Your Service" (AYS) that was created for older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Virtual collaborative creative engagement in a pandemic world: creative connection for older adults with lived experience of dementia

“…The majority of devices were reported to be custom-made and at the prototype phase (and not commercially available). Their recommendations for future research were to involve people living with dementia increasingly in co-design, to progress device development past prototyping, and to investigate comparisons across devices and across arts-based activities (49). Canadian researchers Faieta et al (25) found that amongst care partners separated from their loved one with dementia during COVID-19, the majority perceived the need for smart mobile device (SMD) app use-a particular kind of digital technology-for example, video conferencing apps, messaging apps, browsers, etc.…”