Residents at four Lutheran Services aged care communities in Queensland are taking part in landmark artificial intelligence (AI) research to support people with dementia to enjoy their mealtimes.
The research program, ‘What Would You Like to Eat? Supporting Residents with Dementia to Participate in Mealtime Decisions’, is being led by a team of multidisciplinary researchers from The University of Queensland and University of Sunshine Coast (UniSC) in collaboration with not-for-profit Lutheran Services.
The study initially uses text-to-AI images to create prompts to spark food memories in aged care residents to help them continue to savour mealtimes as their dementia advances.
Researcher Dr Tricia King, a lecturer in photography at UniSC, began the first stage of the pilot program at Immanuel Gardens Aged Care in Buderim before moving to other Lutheran Services’ sites in Caboolture, Woodridge and Laidley.
“The early research is progressing well and I’ve been working with participants asking them how they prefer meals presented and their favourite food memories before co-creating images of meals using AI,’’ Dr King said.
“We discuss their responses to images of food prepared under the Aged Care Standards. I record what appeals to them and what doesn’t, if they prefer light or dark tablecloths, steam coming off the food, perhaps a hand visible or images taken from above.
“The results will be collated and in the next few months in collaboration with the UQ researchers we will take the first steps to develop AI created images to be used as prompts for food choices of residents in aged care.
“Ultimately, I see the possibility of trialing a visual menu created by AI to be used as a tool for communication to help people with dementia decide what they wish to eat.’’
Lutheran Services Executive Lead for Aged Care and Quality, Tricia Davis said the innovative research gets to the heart of resident wellbeing.
“It’s exciting that this technology may be able help support our residents to live to their potential despite the challenges of dementia,” Ms Davis said.
“Aged care residents with cognitive decline are at a higher risk of malnutrition because memory loss leads to confusion.
Ms Davis said the research strengthened Lutheran Services’ focus on high quality food and dining.
“This pioneering research complements perfectly our commitment to providing excellent food and dining experiences across Lutheran Services’ aged care services including our evidence-based Happy Table program,’’ she said.
“The team at Lutheran Services looks forward to the research leading to a positive impact.’’
Dr King said photographs were an important tool for her work in aged care settings and she was excited to bring photography to the study.
“The world is shifting dramatically to AI and as a photographer I saw an opportunity to explore the use of AI-generated images to engage people with different levels of cognitive decline,’’ Dr King said.
“I was thrilled to be invited to join this project with my colleagues Dr Mikaela Wheeler and Dr Danielle Cave who have clinical and research expertise as dietitians in residential aged care.
“Everyone on the research team believes this project will lead to positive change with the tools we create.’’
Dr King said the research would also explore the development of an app using AI-created images that could be used for residents as their communication abilities decrease.
