The Use of Mood Boards to Study Housing Needs of Nursing Home Residents with Dementia

Nursing home residents with dementia face challenges in adapting to a new living environment and feeling at home. Due to communicative limitations, people with dementia after often left out of design processes. The aim of this study is to investigate the housing needs in relation to the interior design on the object level and design level. Based on the principles of practice development, seven residents participated in a creative workshop in which they produced a mood board, followed by subsequent interviews. People with dementia value colours in the built environments, their own practical pieces of furniture, and personal belongings like pictures of relatives. Their sense of home turned out to depend more on the social environment than the built environment. We conclude that involving older people with dementia can lead to a better match between the needs and design solutions and can stimulate the dialogue between design stakeholders.