Nesta Talk About Book of You as part of Dementia Citizens on BBC World Service

John Loder, Head of Strategy at Nesta, talked about Book of You as part of the Dementia Citizens project on the BBC World Service Click programme on 9th August 2016. You can listen to the interview by visiting https://soundcloud.com/kathy-barham/dementia-citizens-boy-bbc-world-service-9816

John explained how they are looking for 500 people who can test both the Book of You and Playlist for Life apps as part of the study. The idea came out of feedback received from people with dementia and their carers who said there was a serious lack of meaningful activities that they could do together which could connect them to each other, because people with dementia can often become withdrawn, even from those closest to them. So the enthusiasm is there, but also, what is most important here, is that Nesta will be conducting research alongside these apps. The apps should be fun and simple to use, but should also generate valuable information and data for researchers.

The Dementia Citizens Project is important because it is backed by The Department of Health and Alzheimer’s Society and as yet, no study as to whether it actually helps the person with dementia and their carer has been undertaken. Book of You can learn from this feedback and this will help us create an app that people will want to use.