Ageing- and dementia-friendly design: theory and evidence from cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and environmental psychology can contribute to design guidelines that minimise spatial disorientation

Navigability of Residential Care Homes From Residents', Family Members', and Staff's Points of View: The Residential Care Home Navigability Scale

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Navigational skills display clear signs of decline with increasing age, especially in pathological aging. Therefore, navigability-the extent to which destinations can be reached with reasonable effort and time-should be considered in residential care home design. We aimed to develop a scale assessing environmental features (i.e., indoor visual differentiation, signage, and layout) for navigability in residential care homes: the Residential Care Home Navigability (RCHN) scale. To this end, we examined whether navigability and its factors were associated with a sense of direction within the residential care homes to different degrees for older adult residents, caregivers, and staff. The relationship between navigability and residential satisfaction was also considered.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

A sample of 523 participants (230 residents, 126 family caregivers, and 167 staff members) responded to the RCHN, assessed their sense of orientation and general satisfaction, and performed a pointing task.

RESULTS

Results confirmed the RCHN scale's 3-level factor structure, good reliability, and validity. A subjective sense of direction, but not pointing task performance, was associated with navigability and its factors. In particular, visual differentiation is positively associated with a sense of direction regardless of group, whereas signage and layout contributed to a better experience of a sense of direction, especially among older residents. Navigability was not related to residents' satisfaction.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Navigability supports perceived orientation in residential care homes, especially for older residents. Moreover, the RCHN is a reliable tool for the assessment of RCHN, with important implications for minimizing spatial disorientation through environmental interventions.

The Assessment of Long-Term Care Environments for Wayfinding Design

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this article is to compare three different methods to assess the complexity of a long-term care (LTC) environment for wayfinding before and after an environmental design intervention. The methods include space syntax (SS), the Wayfinding Checklist (WC), and the Tool to Assess Wayfinding Complexity (TAWC).

BACKGROUND

Wayfinding is important to maintain older adults' independent functioning. The design of environments can impact wayfinding ability by providing support; this can be via building structure or by environmental design features such as signage and landmarks. Few methods or tools have been scientifically validated to assess environments for wayfinding complexity. In order to compare environments in terms of complexity and to measure the impact of interventions, valid and reliable tools are necessary.

METHODS

This article discusses the results of the use of three wayfinding design assessment tools using three routes in one LTC environment. The results of the three tools are discussed.

RESULTS

SS analysis could quantitatively measure the complexity of routes using integration values, which indicates connectedness. The TAWC and the WC were able to measure differences in visual field scores pre- and postenvironmental intervention. There were limitations to each tool: the lack of psychometric properties for the TAWC and the WC, and the lack of ability to measure changes in design features within visual fields with SS.

CONCLUSIONS

Multiple tools to assess environments for wayfinding design may be needed in studies that test environmental interventions. Future research is needed to provide psychometric testing for the tools.

Application of Cognitive System Model and Gestalt Psychology in Residential Healthy Environment Design

The influence of the environment on people is very large. According to the general rules of people's daily routines, people spend at least half of their time in residential areas. Therefore, the environment of residential areas has a great impact on people's emotions, behaviors, and even the development of living habits. Residential area refers to a residential area where residents live in clusters and form a certain scale, including buildings where people live, public buildings and facilities for rest, education, fitness, work, and even communication between people, green space, and traffic roads. Usually, the environmental design of urban residential areas usually meets the requirements of diverse functions, strong compatibility, and convenient travel, so as to facilitate residents' living. In an ideal state, the environmental design of a residential area should not only meet the basic living conditions but also improve the living comfort of the residents. Because there is a close relationship between people's psychology and behavior and the living environment of the community, environmental design that is in line with people's positive and optimistic psychology helps residents maintain a happy mood. Therefore, from the perspective of environment to residents' living comfort, this paper introduces a cognitive system model and Gestalt psychology to optimize the design of residential healthy environment. A more harmonious and comfortable living environment is established by using the principle of bottom, grouping, and simplification in Gestalt.

A Novel Deep Framework for English Communication Based on Educational Psychology Perspective

The impact of verbal reading practices on learning is examined from the perspective of educational psychology, using the motivation theory and the schema theory. This research intends to enhance learner's English communication abilities in response to the needs for national economic growth and scientific and technological development. To motivate students to improve their English, the research may address the issue of inadequate opportunities by adding an artificial intelligence (AI) conversation mechanism to the students speaking English exercise. First, cognitive psychology is analyzed in detail, and a model based on cognitive psychology is implemented to solve the problems existing in student's English communication. In addition, various measures are presented and used to increase student's oral English communication abilities. We used sixty students from North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power are separated into two classes: Class A and Class B. The experimental group is called Class A, while the control group is called Class B. Following a comparison of the outcomes obtained before and after training. The experimental group's reading comprehension, responding to questions, situational conversation, and subject description scores rose by 13.33, 15.19, 17.39, and 28.3 %, respectively. The overall average score of the class climbed by 17.75 %, whereas the scores of pupils in Class B improved just an undersized. The results reveal that following the vocalized reading exercise, the student's English grades, self-efficacy, and topic knowledge increased considerably in the experimental group. Moreover, the proposed model, employs computer simulation in the English communication teaching system and AI, which can aid in the creation of an interactive learning environment for students to improve their spoken English and English communication abilities.