The Alzheimer's Society of UK has found that making a digital scrapbook can help in stimulating memories.
Reminiscence therapy is a method of stimulating memories by using pictures or conversation. The media manager at the Alzheimer's Society, Said Dajani, found a unique way to use reminiscence therapy with people with dementia.
Dajani built a digital scrapbook using photos, videos and music and exported them to a custom DVD. The thinking here was that family members could use a template to make their own DVD's for a person with dementia that would allow caregivers the opportunity of knowing more about the person. In addition, the DVD would work as a memory stimulator or reminiscence tool for the person with dementia. The person with dementia could watch the DVD and be stimulated by real events and photos from their life.
Dajani won a Microsoft contest for coming up with this idea and has found it very well received in focus groups conducted in the UK. They are hoping to merge the availability with websites like Facebook and Flickr to make putting in content easy.
Has anyone used a concept like this to help their person with dementia? Please comment and let us know.
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