One step at a time: Evaluation of a step-by-step recipe tool designed for people with dementia

Due to dementia, people lose the ability to deal with complex tasks such as cooking. We can support this group by designing new tools to keep them active and enhance their feeling of self-worth. Previous studies have focused on step-by-step guidance for people with dementia using innovative technology, which is often too complicated to learn and set up for the users. In this paper, we designed and evaluated an intuitive, non-intimidating, step-by-step recipe tool for people living with dementia. The tool is designed for collaboration to stimulate socialisation between people with dementia or with a caregiver. The design was evaluated in situ, with 36 individuals at varying stages of dementia. Participants were instructed to cook a dish using the recipe tool and reflect on its usability. The step-by-step approach of the tool appeared highly suitable for people with dementia, and added visuals helped with understanding the recipe. The level of initiative shown by the participants with dementia seemed to depend on the amount of trust shown by the caregiver. We found that collaboration between participants during cooking as facilitated by the tool was enjoyable and highly suited for both at-home and meeting centre settings. We offer several suggestions for designing step-by-step tools and encourage facilitating more collaborative, non-intimidating activities for people with dementia and their caregivers.