The Health Design Lab at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, in collaboration with the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia, have developed Zeitgeist, a program brings together design students and residents of long-term care homes, creating a platform for meaningful intergenerational exchange and social interaction through the co-design and co-creation of mini-publications focused on the resident’s stories. Following three successful incarnations of Zeitgeist, in two different care homes, the team at Emily Carr have developed a “How to Guide” for other schools and care homes to run the project. The guide contains background on the program, a basic program summary and how to begin implementing it within an academic institution. It also includes sample project briefs, timelines, prompts, tools and other necessary information, for both the school and home, to successfully run the project. There are also many challenges to implementing a project such as this, both from an ethical and logistical viewpoint. The guide is currently at the prototype stage, with the Health Design Lab actively seeking willing schools and homes to run pilot Zeitgeist projects, both nationally and internationally. In this workshop, we hope to not only share the program to engage partners in learning “How to Zeitgeist" but also to support a dialog around how blending academic programming and recreational programming in long term care homes might differ in academic or health models internationally.

Workshop Facilitator

Workshop FacilitatorS

Lisa Boulton

Health Design Lab, Emily Carr University

Lisa Boulton is the Manager of the Health Design Lab at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver. Over the past decade, Lisa has built her research practice through the application of participatory methodologies in Health Information Systems, Business Transformation Programs and Medical Product Device Development. Her work has supported the design of medical and consumer products, services and systems of health in local and global communities.