Developing the ‘mStick’ Concept: Experiences and Impacts

Purpose The small-scale pilot study focuses on the memory and reminiscence stick (mStick) concept. It is a biographical memory store; personal documents, like family photographs, texts, audio and video clips, as well as materials linked to the owner’s hobbies and interests, are stored on a USB stick. The stick is a concept with a background philosophy focus-ing on reminiscence; the essence is not the technology itself, and future platforms may well be different. The stick con-cept provides meaningful entertainment to independent elderly people and those living in residential care or long-term care and suffering from memory and communication problems. Narrative gerontology and reminiscence studies over the years have shown that memories and personal life stories are important resources in the later life. Method Nine pilots were launched in Lahti Region, Finland in 2010 and 2011 to examine user experiences. The pilots have been investigat-ed throughout their implementation to assess impacts and usability of the sticks. Qualitative data were collected in 2010-2011 by means of interviews (33 end-users, 29 workers/students), learning diaries, photographs, memos, and participa-tory observation diaries (about 200 pages and over 200 photos) in the process of co-creation of the innovative concept. In this study, experiences gained during the development of the mStick are analyzed with the help of ‘Gerontechnology’s Five Ways’: prevention, enhancement, compensation, care, and research. Results & Discussion According to the re-sults, the mStick prevents the world from becoming narrower, which easily follows, as health and functional abilities dete-riorate. Reminiscence work enables people who are confined to bed to be connected to other places and times. The stick concept creates ‘generational intelligence’, an ability to put oneself in the position of age-others by increasing intergener-ational interaction and transmitting family history to younger generations. It also acts as an assistive device for care workers who organize reminiscence sessions and alike. It helps to see patients as whole human beings and facilitates communication between them and care personnel – thus potentially renewing the care culture. The contribution of this study is to bring forth experiences of ‘hybrid care’, a combination of services and products. The results are encouraging, as they show that the mStick causes positive impacts at many levels. There seems to be potential for cultural change in care practices, highlighting the need for a biographical approach in care work.