The “Bridge” Project: Α European Innovative Intergenerational Approach Using Serious Games for People with Dementia

Marina Makri,Ioana Caciula,Magda Tsolaki,Alexandra Manattini,Sara Beccati,Konstandina Vasiliki Iakovou,Minas Dasygenis,Asimina Brouzou,Evanggelia Angelidou,Ioannis Brouzos,Nikolaos Baras

doi:10.4236/psych.2021.129091

Abstract

Intergenerational activities can be an enjoyable way to act on dementia symptoms, enable people with dementia (PwD) social inclusion and bridge the intergenerational (involving also younger and older people) gap by the direct involvement of young people. The Erasmus+ “Bridge” project has developed eight prototypes Serious Games (SGs) (physical, digital or phygital) and innovative Co-Creation Intergenerational Workshops acting on cognitive and behavioral symptoms of dementia between 2018 to 2021. Partners Greece (Alzheimer Hellas), Italy (Anziani e non solo) and Romania (Asociatia Habilitas) have drafted the methodology of co creation workshops and implemented them following guidelines set. The final eight games have been developed and a second implementation of Game playtesting Workshops was organized in each country in order to assess the impact of the games. In total, 24 PwD co-designed and played some games with the cooperation of 6 game-designers, 16 healthcare professionals, 7 caregivers and 21 young volunteers in the first Co-Creation Workshops. Eleven prototypes games had been created and the team of the project took the final decision to develop fully 8 of them. More specifically, the 8 “Bridge” games developed are the Next destination, Flea market, Find the word, Bird-watching, Emotions, The directors, Blooming flowers, Specialite. These have been tested during a series of workshops in October 2020, organized in partner countries. The testing phase involved 47 people: 23 PwD, 17 health professionals, 4 caregivers and 3 young volunteers. Moreover, during the project’s lifetime, The Bridge web-platform (https://projectbridge.eu/), contains MOOCs on the methodology of the Game-Creation Workshops and the final 8 selected SGs.

Highlights

Over the past decades, life expectancy is constantly increasing, resulting in a greater number of adults over 65 and 80 years old, and in an increased number of older adults with age-related impairments on physical or cognitive levels
people with dementia (PwD) confirmed that being involved in social activities were among the first benefits they could think of in relation with the activities done during this workshop
The part of the workshops in which PwD were directly involved in playing games was enjoyable for all participants and none of them showed any signs of fatigue

Summary

Introduction

Life expectancy is constantly increasing, resulting in a greater number of adults over 65 and 80 years old, and in an increased number of older adults with age-related impairments on physical or cognitive levels. In 2018, 50 million people worldwide were diagnosed with dementia (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2019). These numbers are expected to increase 281 per cent by 2050 and people living with dementia will be more that 150 millions (ADI, 2020). The generation gap is constantly widening as young people are losing their interest to participate in volunteering actions concerning elderly people (Andreoletti & Howard, 2018). Young people could contribute significantly to fight against the stigma and the consequent loneliness and social exclusion of PwD, especially when engaged as volunteers in projects which challenge them, too (Office for the Ageing, 2016)

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Results

Conclusion