Abstract
Receiving a dementia diagnosis is a difficult experience for most people and often affects their wellbeing negatively. To support people's wellbeing, in a therapeutic context, life-storytelling, reminiscence and mindfulness are used with people with dementia. In an everyday context, traditional games are used as a resource for stimulating memory, cognition and social activity. While an increasing number of creative strategies are available to support people with dementia, the area of board games design and their effect on wellbeing is underexplored.This paper reports on the evaluation of the This is Me (TIM) mindful life-storytelling board game by the European project MinD. Using a co-design methodology, TIM was developed with and for people with mild to moderate dementia to support their wellbeing by enhancing self-empowerment and social engagement. A focus group methodology was used to evaluate TIM with 50 people with dementia and 19 carers across four countries. TIM was evaluated with regard to the usability and experience of the design as well as people's emotional wellbeing, social engagement and agency.The thematic analysis demonstrated that the combination of life-storytelling and mindfulness allowed players to engage in meaningful social interaction and, as a result, they reported enjoyment, learning, more acceptance of the past and present situation, and that they perceived looking forward into the future together with others as helpful. The study demonstrates that design can be a useful means to support people with dementia in aspects of emotional wellbeing, social engagement and a sense of agency.
Highlights
Today, dementia is recognised globally as a major public health concern
This study has demonstrated the successful use of the This is Me (TIM) board game, co-designed for engaging people with mild to mod erate dementia in meaningful activities of life-storytelling, reminiscence and mindful reflection to enhance their wellbeing, and to take the players beyond a form of reminiscence, which is focused solely on the past, to promote reflection on the present and future
References to storytelling, reminiscence and mindfulness in our findings have demonstrated that the conceptual underpinning of the game was important for the players’ wellbeing experience
Summary
Dementia is recognised globally as a major public health concern. Almost 10 million people are affected by dementia in Europe, and 50 million people worldwide, with cases set to double by 2050 (Alzheimer Europe, 2019; WHO, 2020). Vugt & Droes, 2017; Lee, Boltz, Lee, & Algase, 2017), the diagnosis often negatively affects people’s wellbeing It can leave people feeling vulnerable and alone as they struggle with perceptions of self and stigma, practical tasks and reduced independence, making it difficult to imagine a worthwhile future (Low, Swaffer, McGrath, & Brodaty, 2018; Pratt & Wilkinson, 2001). This is compounded by a scarcity of suitable materials and life enhancement strategies available to support people following the diagnosis (Low et al, 2018; Roberts, 2019). Design can play an important role in supporting health and social care through providing life enhancement strategies aimed to support the wellbeing of people with early-stage dementia (Niedderer et al, 2020)
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