Minimum viable product
Designing scalable
dementia care services
Opportunity
A nationwide community dementia care system needed to evolve to meet rising demand and inform a scalable Singapore model. Community and institutional care providers were also interested in a digital Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) intervention.
Challenge
The opportunity involved stakeholders across the private, public, and social sectors, the latter highlighting that three out of four households with persons with dementia declined existing services. Before pursuing nationwide digital adoption, we needed to understand and validate the reasons for low participation and the underlying service proposition.
Connections
The work connected the needs of persons with dementia and their caregivers with care-provider requirements, validated CST principles, and wider policy and system realities.
Decision
Validate the underlying intervention separately from stakeholders’ preference for a digital solution. A pen-and-paper CST intervention could first test and socialise the service proposition without introducing unnecessary assumptions about technology.
Outcome
The work informed recommendations for scaling community dementia care, including revisions to the existing care system and a validated service proposition. It established and socialised CST principles, clarified how to use resources more effectively, defined digitalisation requirements, and contributed insights for policy development.