JellyDrops+: Transforming nutrition for elderly people with dementia

英国有85万痴呆症患者[1]，其中超过一半的人经历营养不良和临床显著的体重减轻[3]。营养不良会对健康造成不利影响，包括患相关疾病（癌症、慢性阻塞性肺病、肌肉无力、免疫系统薄弱[9]）的风险更高，以及社交、保持活跃和独立的能力下降。营养不良的PWD比非营养不良的PWD有高4倍的“严重痴呆”风险和高3倍的死亡风险。治疗营养不良的PWD的医疗保健成本也增加了3倍\[8\]，其中70%的住院PWD经历营养不良\[3\]，恢复缓慢，住院时间延长\[7，8\]。JellyDrops由刘易斯霍恩比于2018年创立，原因是他的祖母（患有痴呆症）因脱水需要住院治疗。在护理院生活了几个月后，刘易斯意识到，通过饮料和传统的输送方法输送液体和营养物质对许多残疾人不起作用。PWD对饮用液体有一套独特的障碍（例如不再感到口渴，无法使用杯子，吞咽液体困难），这使得护理人员和家人难以/不可能支持PWD消耗他们所需的液体和营养物质。然而，许多PWD喜欢甜食。JellyDrops诞生了。刘易斯开发了一种果冻“甜”含有95%的固体形式的水，这是美味，易于持有和吸引力。这些糖果是无糖的，但含有非泻药甜味剂。一盘24个JellyDrops可提供300 ml的水，用户测试显示出显著的健康和健康益处（AppQ 3），平均每日液体摄入量增加200- 250 ml，未达到液体目标的天数减少76%。许多PWD选择每天独立吃一盘，几乎不需要鼓励。JellyDrops不仅提供必要的水分，还可以提高PWD及其护理人员的社交参与度和兴奋度。现有的JellyDrops产品已经被20，000名英国PWD试用，以吸引人的方式改善水分。该产品获得了多项大奖（正在申请专利），在Trustpilot上被评为优秀，被评为年度痴呆症创新（2020），并得到了阿尔茨海默氏症协会的支持。为了解决残疾人营养不良的未解决问题并响应市场需求，该项目将在JellyDrops中添加营养成分，创建JellyDropsPlus（JD+）。该项目为营养全面的产品开发了一种变革性的新交付形式，克服了PWD对饮用液体的独特障碍以及消费现有营养全面饮料的困难。用户参与和以人为本的设计原则对该项目至关重要，利用既定的设计思维，确保JD+的设计/开发以最终用户为核心。

There are 850,000 people with dementia (PWD) in the UK\[1\], with over half experiencing malnutrition and clinically-significant weight-loss\[3\]. Malnutrition has detrimental health consequences including higher risk of associated illness (cancer, COPD, muscle weakness, weak immune system\[9\]), as well as reduced ability to socialise, remain active and independent. Malnourished PWD have 4x higher risk of reaching 'severe dementia' and 3x higher risk of death than non-malnourished PWD\[10\]. The incremental healthcare cost of treating malnourished PWD is also 3x higher\[8\], whereby 70% of hospitalised PWD experience malnutrition\[3\], slowing recovery, and extending hospital stays\[7,8\].JellyDrops was founded by Lewis Hornby in 2018 due to personal experience of his Grandma (with dementia) needing hospitalisation for dehydration. After living in a carehome for several months, Lewis realised that delivering fluid and nutrients via drinks and traditional delivery methods did not work for many PWD. PWD have a unique set of barriers to drinking liquids (e.g. no longer feeling thirst, inability to use cups, difficulty swallowing liquid), making it difficult/impossible for carers and family to support PWD to consume the fluid and nutrients they need. However, many PWD enjoy sweets.JellyDrops was born. Lewis developed a jelly 'sweet' containing 95% water in a solid form, which was tasty, easy to hold and attractive. The sweets are sugar-free but contain non-laxative sweeteners. One tray of 24 JellyDrops provides 300ml of water and user-testing shows significant wellbeing and health benefits (AppQ3), increasing average daily fluid intake 200-250ml, reducing the frequency of days not meeting fluid targets by 76%. Many PWD choose to eat a tray per day independently, needing little/no encouragement. JellyDrops not only provide essential hydration but also improve social engagement and excitement for PWD and their carers.The existing JellyDrops product has already been tried by 20,000 UK PWD, improving hydration in an engaging way. The multi-award winning (patent-pending) product is rated Excellent on Trustpilot, named the Dementia Innovation of the Year (2020), and supported by the Alzheimer's Society.To tackle the unaddressed issue of malnutrition in PWD and respond to market demand, this project will add nutritional components into JellyDrops, creating JellyDropsPlus(JD+). This project develops a transformational new delivery format for a nutritionally-complete product, overcoming PWD's unique barriers to drinking liquids and difficulty in consuming existing nutritionally-complete drinks. User engagement and people-centred design principles will be critical for this project, utilising established design thinking to ensure JD+ are designed/developed with end-users at the core.