FOR PROSPERITY AND DIGNIFIED AGING: DEMENTIA COMPLEX AS A SPACE TO ENHANCE ELDERLY LIFE QUALITY

• Main Author: Arrahma, Ghefira
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Arsitektur
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/81455
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Dementia is a serious condition that is increasingly concerning, and its prevalence continues to rise each year in Indonesia. Dementia is a disorder that causes a loss of cognitive abilities and memory, and can lead to significant behavioral changes. It is a progressive disease with an end stage that ultimately results in death. Understanding dementia is crucial because it not only affects the sufferers but also the families and caregivers who look after them. Dementia affects individuals in various ways, including changes in personality and behavior such as confusion, difficulty speaking, and loss of orientation to time and place. As a result, people with dementia require intensive care and constant supervision every day. The presence of caregivers becomes essential in dementia care. They play a role in maintaining the safety, well-being, and quality of life of people with dementia. However, being a caregiver also presents a dilemma for families. Often, families have to sacrifice time, energy, and personal commitments to care for a family member with dementia. This can impact their life balance and lead to feelings of stress and exhaustion for the caregivers. Home care for dementia also poses a dilemma for the sufferers themselves due to the inability to receive the quality of care they should get because caregivers are not equipped with proper dementia care training. In Indonesia, the approach to dementia care often still follows a hospital-based approach, which pays little attention to the autonomy and freedom of the sufferers. Most people with dementia are isolated in clinical environments, which can worsen their symptoms and quality of life. This phenomenon results in a decline in independence and self-confidence for people with dementia. Therefore, there needs to be a paradigm shift in dementia care, focusing more on maintaining autonomy and quality of life. All parties need to pay attention to the nature and behavior of dementia to create a comfortable living environment. Accurate data collection is also one of the efforts in managing this condition. However, data on dementia in Indonesia is still very limited, so the data used as a design reference is not accurate. The Indonesian culture that normalizes forgetfulness is also a reason why data collection is not accurate. The societal stigma towards dementia needs to be changed so that data collection in Indonesia can improve, making data-based designs more accurate. Therefore, an integrated dementia research facility is needed as an effort to provide accurate data. Besides data collection, one of the aspects often overlooked in dementia care is the relationship between architecture and the condition of dementia. Architecture can play an important role in creating environments that support people with dementia. Dementia-friendly design can help sufferers stay safe, comfortable, and feel more connected to their surroundings. Architecture serves as a facilitator of personality changes in dementia by looking two steps ahead to create good design.