Dementia Case Study

Dementia is a term that defines a wide range of symptoms correlated with the decline of intellectual abilities, it is a very serious condition to the extent that it can interfere and reduce a person’s ability to perform daily, social and occupational activities. Another conditions that are associated with dementia are changes in the patient’s behaviour and personality. It is known that currently there is no effective treatment and cure available to prevent and delay the growth of dementia. According to Julie G.’s (2016) research, she found out that “globally, the incidence of dementia among adults aged 60-64 was an estimated 3.9 per 1000 person years, doubling with every 6.3 years of age”. Notably in the United States, Hebert (2013) with his

Although it is always good to be independent, older adults with dementia who chose to remain and continue living at their own private house are exposing themselves to the potential of self-harm and getting lost due to memory deterioration as “access to health care, support, and social services for older people are vital” (Karim et al., 2015). Moving to a new environment can always be challenging for some but for people with dementia, “a move to a new environment is often a stressful experience, causing shock, withdrawal, and anger” (Karim et al., 2015) and according to Anthony et al.’s research, patient who moved individually to nursing homes and long-term living facilities appear to suffer “high rates of depression and mortality” following their move (as cited in Day et al., 2000). However, another research conducted by Anthony et al. confirmed that individuals who were relocated to a new environment together in a group experienced few to no difficulty (as cited in Day et al., 2000). Van Hoof and Kort (2009) recommended that it will be really beneficial for the people with dementia to move to nursing homes when their dementia is on the early stages, to avoid People with dementia usually desire to live at their own house rather than moving to nursing homes or long-term living

RBD heavily emphasizes on the awareness of older adult health depreciation is related to the decline in their “quality of experience, perception, activity, and social life” (Orfield, 2015). RBD is usually implemented on a new or renovated older adult facility and the system is conducted in a top-down approach. This system involves some processes such as measures of the building performance and development, the population of people in the facility, “performance commissioning and post occupancy evaluation” (Orfield 2015) to ensure that the building performance qualities and satisfaction of the facility’s users are met. Compared to other nursing homes and long-term living facilities which are typically “distracting and difficult” (Orfield 2015), the author’s housing design focuses on clarity, simplicity and familiarity instead of style as he wants to create a non-complicated style of living for the patients. Orfield (2015) also added that “a good building is not a more expensive building, but it is designed for the benefits to the user”. Although the RBD design is unpopular and rare among most house designers, the author certainly hopes that his knowledge