Games to Bridge the Gap
Published: May 30, 2008Generations of family members have bonded over a hot game of Old Maid or Monopoly. Now a handful of entrepreneurs and researchers are demonstrating that some newer games can be a bridge to family members who have dementia.
Researchers who have designed several of these games don’t pretend that their use will boost memory in people with brain disease. The goal, says psychiatrist Gene Cohen, director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University and developer of the board game Making Memories Together, is to improve quality of life, rather than memory.
Equally important, some say, is the emotional link that game-playing offers younger, healthier family members to those with dementia.
In a study of 33 families, satisfaction was higher after playing Cohen’s game with a relative with dementia than after a visit that involved no game-playing. The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging and has been submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Some 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, a progressive, fatal brain disease that often leaves people anxious and isolated. Caregiving is a challenge, as is maintaining meaningful ties between patients, who are often at a loss for things to talk about or do, and family members.
That’s where the new products come in. Their developers aim to engage families in activities from scrapbooking to board games to computer exercises that allow players to simulate flying over Hawaii or see faces of loved ones by touching a screen.
