What are you most proud of? New card deck encourages seniors to share personal memories
A new card game called “Our Time, Our Story” helps older adults and caregivers connect through reminiscing, easing depression and slowing dementia, supported by the DBS Foundation and SUSS. The programme trains facilitators across Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, showing…
Intelligence analysis by Llama
A new card game called “Our Time, Our Story” helps older adults and caregivers connect through reminiscing, easing depression and slowing dementia. The programme trains facilitators across Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, showing improvements in older adults’ cognitive function and mood after reminiscence sessions.
A new card game called “Our Time, Our Story” helps older adults and caregivers connect through reminiscing. The game features open-ended questions about five life stages - childhood, education, work, retirement, and family. This can help ease symptoms of depression and slow the progression of dementia.
Analysis
A New Approach to Healthy Ageing
The DBS Foundation X Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Memory and Cognitive Health Community Programme has launched a new card game called “Our Time, Our Story” to help older adults and caregivers connect through reminiscing. The programme aims to introduce reminiscence activities to 11,500 older adults across six Asian markets: Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, India, and Indonesia. The card game features open-ended questions about five life stages - childhood, education, work, retirement, and family.
The Benefits of Reminiscence
Research has shown that reminiscence activities can ease symptoms of depression and slow the progression of dementia. The programme has so far reached over 2,100 older adults, including 1,448 in Singapore. The facilitators who have been trained have reported a significant reduction in loneliness and an improvement in their relationships with the older adults. The programme has also shown a 4.6 percentage point increase in the proportion of Singaporean participants who passed a depression screening after attending the sessions.
The Role of Facilitators
The programme trains facilitators across Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan to lead reminiscence sessions with older adults. The facilitators go through an online learning course, followed by in-person training and 12 reminiscence sessions with older adults. The programme has so far trained 315 facilitators, including 152 in Singapore. The facilitators have reported that the programme has helped them to reduce loneliness and improve their relationships with the older adults.
The Future of Healthy Ageing
The programme aims to promote healthy ageing by introducing reminiscence activities to older adults across six Asian markets. The programme has shown promising results in easing symptoms of depression and slowing the progression of dementia. The card game is a valuable resource for facilitators and caregivers to connect with older adults and promote healthy ageing.
Key points
- A new card game called “Our Time, Our Story” helps older adults and caregivers connect through reminiscing.
- The programme trains facilitators across Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan to lead reminiscence sessions with older adults.
- The programme has shown a 4.6 percentage point increase in the proportion of Singaporean participants who passed a depression screening after attending the sessions.
- The programme has trained 315 facilitators, including 152 in Singapore.
- The programme aims to promote healthy ageing by introducing reminiscence activities to older adults across six Asian markets.
If this programme continues to show promising results, it could lead to a wider adoption of reminiscence activities in Singapore and other Asian markets. This could help to promote healthy ageing and improve the quality of life for older adults.
However, the programme may face challenges in scaling up and reaching a larger number of older adults. Additionally, the programme may require more funding and resources to continue its operations.
