Regional adaptation of a Computer Interactive Reminiscence Conversation Aid to Support Persons Living with Dementia
S. Otalvaro Zapata, E. Rossnagel, A. Phinney, J. Jakobi, A. Astell, and S. Freeman.
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AbstractPURPOSE: Dementia affects over 55 million people worldwide and affects everyday communication, relationships and quality of life for persons living with dementia and their caregivers. Reminiscence therapy, increasingly delivered through digital multimedia, can support mood, identity and engagement. CIRCA (Computer Interactive Reminiscence and Conversation Aid) is a touchscreen-based system that uses photos, video and music to facilitate conversation and reduce caregiver strain, but generic content may not resonate across diverse cultural and geographic contexts [1], making co-creation and regional adaptation critical. Building on Canadian work with CIRCA [2], the CIRCA-BC project aims to co-create and evaluate region-specific content for British Columbia and to identify design principles for culturally grounded digital reminiscence prompts. METHOD: A participatory co-design approach was used to create CIRCA-BC. Older adults with and without dementia took part in two focus groups. In the first session, participants engaged with existing CIRCA materials, discussed cultural relevance, and suggested BC-specific additions. In the second session, participants reviewed the updated CIRCA-BC, provided further insights, and voted on which new images they found most meaningful. Sessions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed thematically. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Forty-two older adults participated in the focus groups. Five interrelated themes described what made images feel “reminiscent”: place-marked orientation, rules and regulations, movement and borders, modest abundance and material limits, and infrastructures of everyday life. Voting patterns reinforced these themes, with near-unanimous endorsement for cues such as Don Messer’s Jubilee, Christmas oranges wrapped in tissue paper, and Sears catalogues. As illustrated in Figure 1, prompts reflecting these thematic elements consistently received the highest reminiscence ratings across content categories, demonstrating convergence between thematic analysis and participant voting. Together, these findings show that BC-specific prompts reliably elicited layered reminiscence when they combined recognizable places, visible social rules, and familiar infrastructures of everyday life. Engagement was inferred as a qualitative indicator of effective reminiscence, based on sustained discussion, spontaneous elaboration of personal memories, and consistent participant endorsement of regionally specific cues.Keywords: Dementia, gerontechnology, reminiscence therapy, co-design
S. Otalvaro Zapata, E. Rossnagel, A. Phinney, J. Jakobi, A. Astell, and S. Freeman. (2026). Regional adaptation of a Computer Interactive Reminiscence Conversation Aid to Support Persons Living with Dementia. Gerontechnology, 25(2), 1-10
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2026.25.2.1570.3