Charlie and Harriet Shaffer Cognitive Empowerment Program
Funding: Cox Foundation
Collaboration: Emory University and Georgia Tech
Core Areas:
Therapy | Built Environment | Technology | Innovation Accelerator
These components are intended to work together to build an evidence base for behavioral therapies and built environment and technology interventions for people living with MCI, with the goal of improving the everyday lives of people with MCI in the Atlanta area and around the globe.
The Empowerment Center in Executive Park in Atlanta provides an innovative setting for the day program for people with MCI. Using an open, nature-like design with lighting that can change in brightness and color, the center is a living lab that supports empowerment — not just therapy, but agency and joy — and allows the ongoing study of how people use and respond to the design of the center and for the center to be constantly improved.
The SimTigrate Design Center runs the Built Environment Core and the Innovation Accelerator. The Built Environment Core team uses co-design and research methods such as spatial analysis and functional scenarios. We informed the design of the Empowerment Center and are expanding the focus to the design of homes and community settings.
The Innovation Accelerator works across all three CEP cores, allowing ideas to be tested quickly so they can be turned into viable solutions. For example, the IA provides annual seed grants to fund and test proposed strategies quickly, allowing some to fail quickly and the most effective to be disseminated and implemented.
View full Empowered by Design - Student Projects for CEP (2018-2023)
Core Areas of Focus
Therapy Core
Built Environment Core
Technology Core
Innovation Accelerator Core
Built Environment Core
The built environment area researches how innovative design can improve cognition, mood, and functioning.
The SimTigrate Design Center team has developed a Home Design Guidelines booklet to support individuals experiencing cognitive decline so they can live safely, independently, and comfortably at home.
It provides home design strategies based on evidence, best practices, and expert recommendations to inform individuals with MCI and their care partners of effective, user-friendly design suggestions to be implemented in home environments.
These suggestions are classified into different levels of effort, ranging from relatively simple do-it-yourself strategies to major home renovations.
Innovation Accelerator Core
The innovation accelerator area engages people with MCI, students, researchers, and industry. It serves to connect academic, clinical, and student researchers with people living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and their care partners to collaborate on projects that aim to improve the quality of life and the lived experience of those affected by MCI.
Cognitive Empowerment Program Seed Grants
The CEP's Innovation Accelerator (IA) awarded $150,000 in seed grants to grow the body of literature in the MCI space during the last three years.
2022 Grant Recipients
- Identifying the Impact of Building Systems on the Sleep Quality of People with MCI in Underprivileged Communities
- Moving Yourself in Space and Time: Identifying spatial and temporal Components of rhythmic movement training for people with mild Cognitive Impairment: The MYSTIC STUDY
2021 Grant Recipients
- The Right Steps II Project
- Impact of design on speech perception in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI): Learning from the sound environment in the Cognitive Empowerment Center
- Music for Memory, Mood, Togetherness
- Daily Memory, Sleep, Stress and Individual Factors Among DYADs
2020 Grant Recipients
- Everyday Memory Intervention for Caring Dyads
- Identifying Barriers and Technological Interventions to Support Adherence Behaviors in Mild Cognitive Impairment
- Development and Testing of a Social Game with the Therapeutic Potential for Individuals with MCI and their Families
- Feasibility of Using Tele-Technology for Mind-Body Interventions for People with Mild Cognitive Impairment
- Feasibility of Measuring Natural Gait Speed In-Home to Quantify Falls Risk in Individuals with MCI
The Assessment of Long-Term Care Environments for Wayfinding
Keywords: design research; pre-post design; research instruments; tools; surveys; research measures; research methodology; senior living; dementia
Methods: Space Syntax, Wayfinding Checklist, The Tool to Assess Wayfinding Complexity
Wayfinding Evaluation Tools
The ability to navigate and find one’s way through space is essential for independence and well-being in long-term care facilities, especially among older residents or those with dementia whose navigational skills may have been compromised by cognitive decline as well as environmental factors. Navigation in the case of assisted-living facilities does not only depend on the layout of the structure, but also on the type and quality of environmental factors, including signs, landmarks, and other visual cues. Three different methods of assessing wayfinding complexity before and after the intervention in terms of designing the physical environment were examined: space syntax analysis, Wayfinding Checklist, and the Tool to Assess Wayfinding Complexity. All three methods were used to evaluate wayfinding along the routes of varying complexity and revealed a variety of important characteristics of the environment that impact navigational skills, including its layout, decision-making process, and visibility.
Ongoing Empirical Study
The design of LTC facilities plays a critical role in supporting wayfinding, facilitating essential activities, and promoting residents’ independence. We are currently working on an empirical study that examines how spatial qualities of LTC facilities can predict residents’ wayfinding performance. Fifteen LTC facilities in the U.S. were selected, and the wayfinding performance of a total of 125 older adult residents was evaluated through predefined navigation tasks of three levels of complexity. The design typology was identified based on corridor structure (linear, branched, and courtyard). In addition to typical route characteristics (i.e., length, turns, floors visited), key spatial metrics of the floor plans were analyzed using Space Syntax methods. Stepwise regression models and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used to analyze the relationship between the spatial characteristics of the floor plans, typologies, and route features on wayfinding performance. Findings show that spatial layout impacts wayfinding performance, even when residents’ individual health and cognitive conditions are considered. The LTC facility typology has also played a role in residents’ wayfinding performance. The findings can inform the architectural design of LTC facilities, ultimately enhancing residents’ autonomy and quality of life. A manuscript is under development and will be coming soon.