| Sumario: | ISSUE Patient-centeredness and participatory design are considered important for the development of technology for older persons, including the growing number of persons living with dementia. In practice, involvement of older persons is still disappointing and needs far more attention in design, research and the actual choice of the use of technology in care contexts. CONTENT In this symposium, presenters will focus on the importance and opportunities to include older persons, especially persons with dementia, into the design, implementation and use of supporting technology. Following the results of a study with focus groups it is described why it is important to still better involve older persons into the design of supportive technology; examples in a nursing home that demonstrate the lack of involvement in persons with dementia are given; also how to involve persons, also if they suffer from dementia, to improve the design of a specific monitoring tool, is presented. STRUCTURE Ittay Mannheim will present findings that underscore the importance of involving older adults in the design of new technologies. He will show that involvement in itself is not enough: inclusion in all phases of the design- and implementation process is necessary. Next, Yvonne Schikhof will demonstrate in a two-phase observatory case study with persons in a nursing home, that 'accepted' therapy has in fact not been evaluated. She brings into the front the perspective of the real users (persons with dementia themselves). Thereafter, Manon Peeters will describe the re-design of wearable sensor technology, used for the detection of stress in persons with dementia and challenging behaviour, with important stakeholders including persons living with dementia. Rens Brankaert will demonstrate that designing together with the relevant stakeholders in a dementia care environment, ownership of new technology concepts is more easily transferred, which encourages the adoption of novel technology. CONCLUSION The projects and examples presented in this symposium will serve as an eye-opener for the lack of real involvement of older persons, especially those suffering from dementia, and will be of interest to researchers and designers who intend to improve their research and influence actual use of their design by better involving older persons, even if they suffer from serious cognitive health issues.
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