We started off with a project proposal. This step included hypothesis formulation, preliminary research, and must/shoulds/coulds. After this we moved to need/requirement identification for target users supported by insights, persona development, interviewing (including recruiting, REB and TCPS certification), digital ethnography, literature reviewing, data analysis/affinity mapping, iceberg projection expanding on pain points, journey mapping, task analysis, environmental scans and preliminary ideation. In the final stage, we did rapid prototyping and high fidelity prototyping, usability testing, and refining past steps (environmental scan and insights). In the ladder stages, we realized that many aspects of self-care are gender specific (especially for an aging population), so we specified our project for women with mild to late stages of dementia.

Abstract

Makeup and hair care is an effort at constructing the self and constructing womanhood. However many women with mid to late-stage dementia are just assumed to not need to perform these acts of self-care. Our goal is to enable female-identifying people with stage 5+ Dementia to find fulfillment in their everyday routines and to allow them to perform this bodywork. The question is, how can we do so in a way that plays into preexisting routines, provides stimulus, promotes independence, and accentuates the person's strengths as opposed to their limitations due to dementia? Our research included an auto ethnography, four interviews, digital ethnography, and 25+ research papers. There is a gap in products that promote routine building, stimulation, and self-care. Since the act of bodywork in many ways is more important than its outcome, feeling like you've done something for yourself and your presentation promotes fulfillment/ confidence. In addition, it lessens the strain between caregivers and the person with dementia.
As a result, we made a sensory self-care kit including a powder puff, a hairbrush, and lipstick. The items do not perform their perceived functions. They are meant to provide the sensation while reducing the frustration of performing the actual act, as in many cases a task as complex as brushing hair or putting on lipstick is difficult with apraxia. It is helping them reconstruct their personhood, albeit through a very binary, gendered perspective. It aligns with the version of womanhood that PWD were exposed to in their youth, from 1940-1960's.