Abstract:

Our population is aging and with it, there are increasing numbers of people with dementia. This places a heavy demand on caretakers, both professional and informal, who must have awareness of the characteristics of dementia and empathy for those with dementia. Tools such as Dementia Live, provide in-person simulation experiences to train professional caregivers. However, access to such simulations is costly and limited. Furthermore, our research team found that the training of empathy using this method may be limited to those who already have strong empathy. Thus, we have developed a dementia simulation using an interactive non-linear game-like platform, Twine, that has the potential to be easily accessible and affordable. The game enables the user to gain a better appreciation of the reality experienced by those with dementia, by having them experience the game through the perspective of someone with dementia. Players can interact with the game by reading prompts and clicking on images and text to follow a story that implements the symptoms of dementia. The program will be beta tested in the spring semester. A pretest-posttest design will be used to determine any differences in knowledge about the characteristics of dementia and empathy towards those with dementia. Our hypothesis is that playing the simulation game will have a positive correlation with knowledge about and empathy towards dementia. If the hypotheses are supported, this game would provide a cheaper and more widely available alternative to other dementia simulation studies. It will also provide support for developing a fully functioning Virtual Reality (VR) form of the simulation. In addition, we are developing content such as posters and information sheets about dementia.


 

Team Members

Rebecca Abraham | Dionel Cabán CorderoMcKenzie WasloskyEmily Pollard | (Omar Ashour) | (Victoria Kazmerski) | (Dan Eaton) | Penn State Behrend

 

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