A Design Thinking Approach to Transform the Experience of Transition among Senior Adults at the time of Nursing Home Admission

Ageing is recognised as one of the greatest global public health challenges, especially with the increasing demands to cope with age-related health conditions in many nations. A central tenet of national health and social care policy in Singapore is to ensure that services support senior adults (SA) in achieving their personal well-being, enabling them to age gracefully and with dignity. With the need to explore the transition of SA into nursing homes (NH), many studies have sought to understand this phenomenon from various perspectives and contexts in recent years. It is well established that a person-centred care approach is essential to ensure a successful transition into an NH. Although new service models are innovated, there is still a pertinent need to ensure that the navigation of services remains simple and streamlined. From literature, design thinking (DT) can address the unacceptably huge gap between the services that healthcare providers aim to deliver and the actual service that is delivered. In relation to the ‘wicked problem’ that persist, the application of DT is plausible to develop a user-centric care model in facilitating the transition of SA into NH in Singapore. The aim of this study is to integrate principles of DT and design tools with the occupational therapy practice to develop an empathetic care model that better transition SA into NH in Singapore.