Improving quality of life in care homes - Philadelphia foundation
Sensory stimulation is vital to the emotional wellbeing of humans and it’s absolutely essential in the mental care setting. Not only does it convey emotional support, affection, and respect but sensory stimulation can dramatically improve a person’s quality of life.
Trial IQL
In 2017, Sensiks conducted a 6-month trial together with St. Philadelphia, with 500 care locations the second largest care provider for mentally disabled and elderly people in the Netherlands.
Wheelchair accessible pods
Based upon Philadelphia's requirements, Sensiks designed the first 2 wheelchair accessible pods in which patient as well as the caregiver could take place during the experience.
During the trial period, 120 clients including a fixed weekly control group of 30 patients’ were offered various multisensory experiences. Some patients used the VR headset whilst for other patients this was too invasive and they enjoyed the experiences without the VR headset and color lights were used to create mood compositions.
Measurements
Subjective as well as objective user feedback was measured and stored during the experience.
For the subjective, an integrated affect grid was used together with a questionnaire that was filled in by the patient or the observing personal caregiver. For the objective measurements, the integrated biofeedback sensors were used for measurements of heart rate, HRV (heart rate variability), and skin conductance. After the trial period, the gathered results were analyzed and reported by TNO. The different sates before, during, and after the sessions were projected.
The results of the trial turned out very promising and Philadelphia ordered the first batch of 10 wheelchair accessible sensory reality pods for their larger locations which have been installed in 2018.
During 2018-2019 several challenges were discovered and tackled, such as implementation in the daily care program, content value creation, and process management.
Care content collective
Based on the positive trial outcome and learnings, several other Dutch healthcare organizations within the same segment also ordered pods for IQL, therapy and further research purposes.
Together with our clients and partners, a content collective is established. Via brainstorm sessions with the innovation teams, psychotherapists, and feedback of patients new content solutions and applications are being developed within the collective.
Source: https://www.philadelphia.nl/sensiks
