GSA 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting Institutet, Huddinge, Stockholms Lan, Sweden, 2. Division of Occupational Therapy, Department of Social Welfare Studies. Linkoping University, Norrkoping, Ostergotlands Lan, Sweden People with dementia value staying active and continuing with their everyday lives in public space, however there is a lack of knowledge about how they experience accessibility, problematic situations and how to manage these situations. The aim is to illuminate experiences of accessibility in public space in people with dementia with focus on places, activ- ities and problematic situations. A Grounded theory ap- proach was used in the thesis with multiple data collection methods (interviews, focus group interviews, observations and visual methods). Findings show that having access to everyday activities at different places in the neighbourhood was very important for the participants when they perceived themselves as being a part of the society and being active and independent persons. Engaging in familiar activities in familiar places was important. However, their activity radii in the community became smaller. The fndings inspired the development of the questionnaire Participation in Activities and Places Outside Home. PARTICIPATION OUTSIDE HOME FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA: DO THEY REALLY EXPERIENCE A SHRINKING WORLD? Isabel Margot-Cattin, 1 Nicolas Kühne, 2 Catherine Ludwig, 3 Louise Nygard, 4 and Anders Kottorp 5 , 1. University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland (HES-SO), Haute école de travail social et de la santé (EESP), Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland, 2. University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland, 3. University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland, Geneva, Geneve, Switzerland, 4. Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Stockholms Lan, Sweden, 5. Malmö University, Malmö, Skane Lan, Sweden Accessing places outside home where activities are per- formed provides both benefts (e.g. participation in activ- ities), and challenges (e.g. fnding one’s way) for people with cognitive defcits. Participation in these places appears to de- pend on various factors such as the living situation of the person, availability of commodities and supporting social networks, or preserved ability to drive. However, clear pat- terns of participation remain scarcely documented. This study addresses the need for understanding of participation out- side home among people with dementia through the places they visit. The aim is to describe how the outside world may be shrinking for them. People with and without dementia (n=70), aged 65+, were interviewed using the Participation in ACTivities and Places OUTside the Home (ACT-OUT) ques- tionnaire across Switzerland. Results show that people with dementia participate signifcantly less in commercial, social and cultural places, but visit medical care places at a higher level, than those without dementia. EVERYDAY TECHNOLOGY: A USEFUL SERVANT BUT DANGEROUS MASTER FOR PARTICIPATION IN SOCIETY? Sophie N. Gaber, 1 Sophie N. Gaber, 2 Louise Nygard, 2 Anna Brorsson, 2 Anders Kottorp, 3 Sarah Wallcook, 2 Georgina Charlesworth, 4 and Camilla Malinowsky 2 , 1. Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Stockholm Lans, Sweden, 2. Division of Occupational Therapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden, 3. Faculty of Health and Society, Malmo University.Division of Occupational Therapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Malmo, Skane Lan, Sweden, 4. Research Department for Clinical, Education, and Health Psychology., London, England, United Kingdom With an increasingly technological society comes an as- sumed ability to use Everyday Technologies (ET) in order to participate in activities and places in public space, e.g. operating ticket machines to access public transport. This study addresses a mismatch between a growing dependency on ET and evidence that people with dementia experience increased challenges using ET. The aim is to explore how ET-use and per- ceived risk relate to participation in public space, among people with and without dementia. People with dementia and without dementia, aged 55+, were interviewed using questionnaires including the Participation in ACTivities and Places OUTside the Home questionnaire, across Sweden (n=69) and the UK (n=128). The Swedish and UK fndings show small but signif- cant associations between total participation in places within public space, and i) ET-use, and ii) perceived risk in public space. Furthermore, people with dementia participated in fewer places within public space than those without dementia. PARTICIPATION IN THE COMMUNITY AMONG PEOPLE WITH AND WITHOUT DEMENTIA: DESTINATIONS AND PERCEPTIONS OF CHALLENGES Habib Chaudhury, 1 Tanveer Mahal, 2 and Kishore Seetharaman 1 , 1. Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 2. University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Older adults with dementia face challenges in their out- door mobility and there are concerns of their not being able to continue going outside for everyday activities and social participation. The focus of this study was to identify patterns of visits to community destinations and activities, and per- ceptions of risks. Interviews were conducted with 59 adults (aged 54-84) with (n=29) and without (n=30) dementia using the Participation in ACTivities and Places OUTside the Home (ACT-OUT) questionnaire in Vancouver, Canada. Findings indicate that participants with dementia had abandoned vis- iting a few places over time (e.g., bank, cemetery, buildings of worship), whereas there were no change in participation in taking transit to destinations such as supermarkets, enter- tainment and cultural places. However, in some cases, com- panions or partners of persons with dementia indicated that they were prone to getting anxious when left alone in public places and were at high risk of getting lost. SESSION 3570 (SYMPOSIUM) PAVING THE WAY FORWARD IN HOUSING WITH SERVICES: THE RIGHT CARE, RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME PROGRAM Chair: Edward A. Miller, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States Innovation in Aging, 2019, Vol. 3, No. S1 775 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/innovateage/article/3/Supplement_1/S775/5615321 by guest on 17 November 2022