Empowering Wellness: Design Thinking for Assistive Technology in Long-term Care [Executive Summary]

This project, a collaboration between Red Deer Polytechnic and Bethany Care Society, aimed to support the well-being of young adult long-term care (LTC) residents by leveraging design thinking principles in a care enhancement initiative integrating meaningful resident consultation and collaboration. Design thinking is a human-centered problem-solving approach which offers a framework for creative engagement and collaboration, allowing residents to become co-creators of their care experience. Design thinking workshops were implemented to facilitate the communication of resident needs and, subsequently, the effective integration of these into assistive technology (AT).