  Reminiscence therapy is an inexpensive non-pharmacological therapy commonly
used due to its therapeutic value for PwD, as it can be used to promote
independence, positive moods and behavior, and improve their quality of life.
Caregivers are one of the main pillars in the adoption of digital technologies
for reminiscence therapy, as they are responsible for its administration.
Despite their comprehensive understanding of the needs and difficulties
associated with the therapy, their perspective has not been fully taken into
account in the development of existing technological solutions. To inform the
design of technological solutions within dementia care, we followed a
user-centered design approach through worldwide surveys, follow-up
semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. Seven hundred and seven informal
and 52 formal caregivers participated in our study. Our findings show that
technological solutions must provide mechanisms to carry out the therapy in a
simple way, reducing the amount of work for caregivers when preparing and
conducting therapy sessions. They should also diversify and personalize the
current session (and following ones) based on both the biographical information
of the PwD and their emotional reactions. This is particularly important since
the PwD often become agitated, aggressive or angry, and caregivers might not
know how to properly deal with this situation (in particular, the informal
ones). Additionally, formal caregivers need an easy way to manage information
of the different PwD they take care of, and consult the history of sessions
performed (in particular, to identify images that triggered negative emotional
reactions, and consult any notes taken about them). As a result, we present a
list of validated functional requirements gathered for the PwD and both formal
and informal caregivers, as well as the corresponding expected primary and
secondary outcomes.
