Profile
Dr. Megan Strickfaden is an educator, designer, and anthropologist. She is an associate professor in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of Alberta (Canada) and an adjunct professor in the Interculturalism, Migration and Minorities Studies Research Centre at KU Leuven (Belgium). She is in her twenty-fifth year of teaching and has hundreds of scholarly outcomes including publications, patents, designed products, exhibitions, and films. Prior to entering academia, she worked full-time as a design consultant for twelve years and continues to combine practice with research. She has hundreds of scholarly outcomes (patents, designed products, exhibitions, films) including recent films Light in the Borderlands (2013), Evolving Lines (2015) and Dementia Care by Design (2015). Her research programme focuses on looking into how specialty environments and products support quality of life for people with different abilities including older adults and those with disabilities. Current projects include researching: de Hogeweyk (dementia village) in the Netherlands; care environments in China towards curriculum development; how disability is represented at museums around the world; the clothing taskscape towards better designed specialized apparel; and conducting precedent-based research on technologies that assist caregivers as part of WP2.4. Strickfaden is the co-editor of Rethinking Disability: World Perspectives in Culture and Society (Garant Publishers, 2016); Space and Culture, Special Issue: (Im)Materiality: Designing for More Sense/s, 15, 3 (2012); and the sole editor of Societies, Special issue: Interrogating Representations of dis/Ability within and through Material Culture (2016). AGE-WELL Funded ProjectsOutputs
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Precedent-based Research: A Step towards Innovating Assistive Technologies to Support Aging Well2.4 ATforCC University of Alberta | Scientific Excellence - Leadership | 2015-10-25 | | AGING WELL @ HOME: An ‘in-house’ social engagement strategy to help seniors remain healthy, active, and socially connected14th Geriatric Services Conference, Vancouver, B.C.1.3 OA-INVOLVE Simon Fraser University, University of Dundee, KITE Research Institute at University Health Network | Scientific Excellence - Advancing Knowledge | 2017-04-06 | | Contextual factors for aging well: creating socially engaging spaces through the use of deliberative dialoguesSymposium, Social engagement in the community. Oral Presentation: Social Engagement in the Community, 46th Annual Scientific and Educational Meeting of the Canadian Association on Gerontology, 19-21st, October, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.1.3 OA-INVOLVE Simon Fraser University, University of Dundee, KITE Research Institute at University Health Network | Scientific Excellence - Advancing Knowledge | 2017-10-19 | | Rhodes ScholarshipAGE-WELL undergraduate RA (WP2.4), Mackenzie Martin, has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship! In the University of Alberta announcement about the award, Mackenzie mentions her RA position with AGE-WELL. https://www.ualberta.ca/agriculture-life-environment-sciences/alesnews/2017/november/human-ecology-student-wins-2018-rhodes-scholarship 2.4 ATforCC | HQP Training | 2017-11-24 | Mackenzie Martin | Precedent-based research for Assistive Technologies (AT): Introducing Innova, a digital application and database to analyze existing products and services for older adultsThis article reports on the interdisciplinary design and development of a digital application and database that serves to collect and analyze assistive technologies (AT) currently available to family/friend caregivers who provide unpaid care to older adults in Canada. AT devices/services currently on the market serve as precedents in the sense that they can inform the design of new AT devices/services that suit the needs of caregivers. As such, the devices/services become a kind of 'materialized design knowledge' that is a significant kit of information that acts as sources of inspiration for designers. The general aim of this project is to pool and examine information about AT precedents that support caregivers and care recipients in a variety of domains of daily life - health, daily living, safety, entertainment and mobility so that designers, innovators, researchers and a variety of other stakeholders can improve existing AT devices/services and create new AT devices/services that suit caregivers' needs. The tool and database reported in this paper consists of a smart phone/tablet application and a web site which contains a user-centred survey, application interface, and feedback features. The details of the surveys and feedback features provides in-depth information including material and immaterial AT device and service attributes that will inform future innovation and design of AT devices/services for caregivers. This presentation will provide an in-depth account of the rationale, design/development, and design implementation of the digital tool and database of AT devices/services for older adults.2.4 ATforCC University of Alberta | Scientific Excellence - Leadership | 2017-03-02 | | ‘Innova’ digital application and database for designers to innovate for carersStrickfaden, M., Fiorentino, C., Martin, M., Eales, J. & Fast, J. (2020). ‘Innova’ digital application and database for designers to innovate for carers. In P. Langdon, J. Lazar, A. Heylighen & H. Dong (eds), Designing for Inclusion: Inclusive Design; Looking towards the future (pp 35-46). Geneva, Switzerland: Springer Nature.2.4 ATforCC University of Alberta | Scientific Excellence - Advancing Knowledge | 2020-05-01 | | Objective burden, resources, and other stressors among informal cancer caregivers: a hidden quality issue?UNLABELLED: A great deal of clinical cancer care is delivered in the home by informal caregivers (e.g. family, friends), who are often untrained. Caregivers' context varies widely, with many providing care despite low levels of resources and high levels of additional demands. BACKGROUND: Changes in health care have shifted much cancer care to the home, with limited data to inform this transition. We studied the characteristics, care tasks, and needs of informal caregivers of cancer patients. METHODS: Caregivers of seven geographically and institutionally defined cohorts of newly diagnosed colorectal and lung cancer patients completed self-administered questionnaires (n = 677). We combined this information with patient survey and chart abstraction data and focused on caregivers who reported providing, unpaid, at least 50% of the patient's informal cancer care. RESULTS: Over half of caregivers (55%) cared for a patient with metastatic disease, severe comorbidity, or undergoing current treatment. Besides assisting with activities of daily living, caregivers provided cancer-specific care such as watching for treatment side effects (68%), helping manage pain, nausea or fatigue (47%), administering medicine (34%), deciding whether to call a doctor (30%), deciding whether medicine was needed (29%), and changing bandages (19%). However, half of caregivers reported not getting training perceived as necessary. In addition, 49% of caregivers worked for pay, 21% reported poor or fair health, and 21% provided unpaid care for other individuals. One in four reported low confidence in the quality of the care they provided. CONCLUSIONS: Much assistance for cancer patients is delivered in the home by informal caregivers, often without desired training, with a significant minority having limited resources and high additional demands. Future research should explore the potentially high yield of addressing caregiver needs in improving quality of cancer care and both survivors' and caregivers' outcomes. | Scientific Excellence - Advancing Knowledge | 2011-01-01 | M van Ryn, S Sanders, K Kahn, C van Houtven, J M Griffin, Mackenzie Martin, A A Atienza, S Phelan, D Finstad, J Rowland | Applications of social constructivist learning theories in knowledge translation for healthcare professionals: A scoping review | Scientific Excellence - Advancing Knowledge | 2014-01-01 | Anne Thomas | Award of Excellence in Education from the Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with DisabilitiesDr. Megan Strickfaden received the Award of Excellence in Education from the Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities based on her inclusive research and innovative design solutions.2.4 ATforCC University of Alberta | Scientific Excellence - Leadership | 2016-12-01 | | Caring by Design: Innovating Living Spaces for Persons with DementiaJournal articles
Strickfaden, M. (2018) Caring by Design: Innovating Living Spaces for Persons with Dementia. Design Community Journal. [submitted, reviewed, accepted, in-press] This is in the premier publication for architecture in China. The paper was published in two languages: Chinese and English. 2.10-SIP A1 University of Alberta | Scientific Excellence - Advancing Knowledge | 2018-08-31 | | Dementia sets lives adriftBruce Grierson (Illustrations by Hugh Syme) July 28 Dementia sets lives adrift. Research is finding a better way forward: Reimagining the way we care for people https://www.ualberta.ca/newtrail/featurestories/2018/august/dementia-sets-lives-adrift
This article written by Bruce Grierson won a writing award! 2.4 ATforCC, 2.10-SIP A1 University of Alberta | KTEE - Knowledge Mobilization | 2018-07-28 | | Seniors and art students team up for film series Project was profiled on CTV Global News Health Matters with XX on July 24, 2018. This interview featured a 94 year old senior artist from the Ashbourne.2.10-SIP A1 University of Alberta | KTEE - Knowledge Mobilization | 2018-07-24 | | Sentimental objects can hold therapeutic value for seniorsGlobal TV: https://globalnews.ca/news/4997904/familymatterssentimentalobjectsseniors/
This TV interview featured one of the senior artists from Copper Sky Lodge.2.10-SIP A1 University of Alberta | KTEE - Knowledge Mobilization | 2019-02-26 | | How design can help disabilities10 minute interview with Kelly and Company, Accessible Media Inc on How Design Can Help Disabilities October 2, 2018 https://player.fm/series/kelly-and-company/how-design-can-help-disabilites2.10-SIP A1 University of Alberta | KTEE - Knowledge Mobilization | 2018-10-02 | | Dementia Care by DesignThe running time of this film is 33:00 minutes. It is an ethnographic documentary film that highlights some of the research accomplished at de Hogeweyk (Dementia Village) in the Netherlands in Feb 2015. 2.4 ATforCC University of Alberta | Product | 2015-10-01 | |
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