From Coins to Cups: Co-Designing Culturally Situated Technologies for Person-Centered Dementia Care

This study explores how culturally situated technologies can support person-centered dementia care in long-term facilities. As pharmacological options remain limited and standardized care models often misalign with local routines, there is a growing interest in relational, design-led alternatives. Grounded in Kitwood's theory of personhood and the DementiAbility Method, we adopted a three-year practice-led co-design process informed by participatory and human-centered design principles. Caregivers were involved throughout, from problem framing to prototype refinement, ensuring that cultural norms and relational expectations shaped development. Three interactive systems (Dream Coin Bank, Memory Bracelet, and Hydration Butler) were co-created and deployed in a Taiwanese veterans' home. Each system is embedded in simple, emotionally meaningful interactions within daily rituals, supporting memory recall, emotional resonance, and relational bridging between residents and caregivers. The findings show that even simple, culturally meaningful technologies can scaffold ritualized engagement, evoke autobiographical memory, and foster emotional resonance through familiar symbols and shared rituals. Rather than emphasizing technological novelty, our findings highlight the value of co-created systems rooted in everyday rituals, sensory cues, and cultural meanings.