Boredom, loneliness and a loss of ability to do things
independently and successfully lead to responsive behaviours.
ABBY ™ is thoughtful, proven technology that invites residents to activities they can easily do themselves.
DementiABILITY Methods: Focusing on the Person (Brain and Behaviour) and the Prepared Environment
University of Toronto Research Evaluation: The impact of ABBY, a personalized activity technology, on people living with dementia in long-term care. 2017
Quality of life is largely defined by what activities are available
ABBY™ is evidence-based and proven2 interactive technology that invites residents to an activity they can easily do – such as ‘petting the cat’ with
a surprise outcome, or turning a steering wheel to find themselves ‘driving’
on a lovely country road.
There are games to play and plenty of stimuli to discover.
Mostly, ABBY™ is fun and
the time spent contributes
to emotional well-being.
Mounted to a wall and easy
to access, ABBY™ is always
available to residents, and
requires little help by caregivers.
For people with dementia,
ABBY™ promotes independent
engagement in meaningful
activity and reduces responsive behaviours such as wandering or expressing frustration.
This in turn, reduces caregiver burden and stress.
When activated, ABBY™ will play pre-selected or personalized and familiar pictures, videos, and songs.
Residents can successfully and independently re-live memories and settle themselves by being thoroughly engaged.
This provides caregivers a positive non-pharmacological intervention option.
Person -centered Care Technology: Stimulating the body, mind and spirit
while presenting families an authentic opportunity to connect
ABBY™ was designed to invite residents to engage with their remaining abilities and interests. Using these abilities promotes independence, emotional wellbeing, cognitive stimulation and physical activity. All this encourages natural curiosity and provides a joyful experience for both the resident and visitors.
Visiting children love to engage with a resident on an ABBY™, reducing disruptions too.
To reinforce familiarity,
personal identity and
intergenerational connections, ABBY™ is controlled through a
website that allows those
who care for a resident to upload personalized content such as old family photos or favourite TV shows.
This means ABBY™ provides
meaningful ways for family
members to engage with
a resident when they visit.
Perception and action are coordinated through ergonomic design and tactile controls such as buttons and switches that are compelling to reach out and touch – a resident ‘just knows’ how to operate this.
How ABBY™ helps engage those with cognitive impairment
ABBY™ was purposely designed to tap into the implicit memory system by providing a resident with something easy and familiar to do. These simple activities are then used to ‘play’ familiar content – a snippet of a song, or an image of a familiar place or time meaningful to a resident. This allows the resident to retrieve a memory – and the more familiar the content, the more impactful this experience can be.
Interestingly, the most deep-seated memories are from resident’s young adult life – when life was full of new and exciting experiences. ABBY™ was designed to provide content that targets these types of memories. Its nostalgic and familiar design and era-specific details guide a resident to re-live memories themselves. When absorbed in these personal memories, residents are calmed, happy and genuinely enjoy themselves.
Talk to us about how ABBY™ can provide meaningful engagement for those that long for it.
ABBY ™ is part of a suite of innovative technology products being developed by Ambient Activity for those living in care.
Ambient Activity is a Canadian company borne of decades of creating durable and meaningful activities and experiences for institutional settings.
