Carer support notes
These notes are there for further support to enable you to get the most from our reminiscence film therapy
How the carer can develop more clip related topic questions
Our carer support notes will show how the carer can develop more clip related topic questions from our one question asked at the end of each clip. This is vital in order to make the clip from our ” A picture house of MY past memories” collection more related to the person they care for. Dementia memory stimulation is a powerful theme within all our reminiscence film therapy clips. We deliberately only ask the people living with dementia and alzheimer’s one question following the clip content. To ask more than one question at this point would only confuse them even more. However, we realise that the people living with dementia and alzheimer’s may not respond to that question we pose within our reminiscence therapy at that particular time. So, within the carers notes which we supply with every clip we provide another ten questions related to or derived from the clip. This will allow the carer to develop their own more personalised questions featuring names of people for example that the people living with dementia and alzheimer’s can remember. The carer can bring personal memories into the questioning to make the clip even more customised.
Making the clips more personalised
Examples of general questions that can be used
Our themed reminiscence film therapy clips can with some thought easily stimulate in the carers imagination related link questions derived from the clip. As an example of related type questions we provide twenty questions based on our demonstration clip called “Meet Violet and Bluebell my grandfathers Clydesdales”
Violet and Bluebell pulling the tattie digger– did you pick tatties when you were at school? This would be a typical clip related question.
1. Who did you like visiting when you were younger
2. Can you remember the names of those people you liked to visit
3. Where did they stay
4. How did you travel to their house, walking, bus, tram, bike, motor bicycle and side car, motor car, motor van etc
5. Did your parents have a car. What type of car was it
6. What did you do when you went to visit them
7. Did you have special visiting clothes you put on to visit
8. Did people visit you
9. Did the older folk and the children all speak in the same room.
10. What games did you play with the children you visited
11. Did you ever go to the beach
12. Do you want to go back again and listen to Don speaking about Violet and Bluebell
13. Can you remember going to the carnival, circus, pictures or where ever—huge potential in these types of question.
14. Can you remember the name of the picture house you liked the best
15. What was your favourite film
16. Did you ever go on school trips
17. What was your favourite visit—people or place or event
18. My grandfather liked to go to the local agricultural shows. What did your grandparents do
19. Should you go on a visit tomorrow to a favourite place of your loved one
20. Did you go shopping with your mum
21. Did you go on visits with the guides, scouts or whatever they did.
22. Did you visit the local swimming baths
23. Etc
Within the carers dementia and alzheimer’s support notes for our reminiscence therapy clips we supply six stills related to each clip which can be printed off for viewing later
We hope these examples of different questions will help the carer to ask personalised questions based on what they know about the person they care for. In that way discussion, as a result of our reminiscence film therapy can really highlight life experiences of and for that person helping them find where these cherished past memories hide. We do not recommend that the carer bombards the people living with dementia and alzheimer’s with question after question. The carer can contribute their memories also so that the people living with dementia and alzheimer’s is at times a listener and passive member, a participative talking member and not necessary the main participant.
These are the types of conceptual questions the carer can integrate within our clips
Interests past and present
Leisure activities they enjoy or enjoyed
Achievements they are proud of
Significant roles they have performed during their world of work
What comforts them
What they like to talk about
What is important to them
Who is important to them
What makes their day
Their goals
Their hobbies
Triggers of negative response need to be remembered and avoided
All these inputs and thinking will soon become second nature to you the carer and lead to better and longer spells of normal life away from the trauma of dementia and alzheimer’s.
See how the theme of education can stimulate many beneficial questions
We all can remember what school was like
A clip about education for example would have prompts like these for the carer to further develop to make the clip even more relevant to the person you care for.
What school did you go to
Let’s look at our old photos of you at school
Can you remember your teacher’s name
What games did you play
What was your favoutrite subject
What did you have in your school bag
Did you wear a uniform,
How did you get to school
Bring the past into the present and ask about their grandchildren school life
What today’s education is and how different it is now.
Hope these examples help
We hope by offering these examples it will show you that with a little practice you also can develop your own type and style of questions. You will soon realise that there is a huge range of questions for all our clips. By building on the theme of each clip greater association with it can be developed which will lead to better outcomes for all concerned. We would advise, based on research, not to ask too many questions. A different question like the above examples can be used the each time the clip is viewed again.
If you have some ideas that you think would work when we produce more clips in phase two please contact us at info@scottishheritage.co.uk we would be happy to speak to you about them.
Your feedback is vital for improving our provision
Your feedback to us about any aspect of our therapy is valued by us. If you have and comments good or bad or some ideas that you think would work when we produce more clips in phase two please contact us at info@scottishheritage.co.uk we would be happy to speak to you about them.