A new board game highlights the challenges that people face receiving dementia care and aims to get people talking about how to improve it.
The University of Liverpool, The Lewy Body Society and others including those with dementia created The Dementia Inequalities Game to show others what the dementia journey is like. The game involves rolling an object and moving a piece so players go on a journey to see all the barriers people deal with when it comes to dementia.
The game journey starts before a diagnosis, and continues to expose some of the challenges people with dementia (and their loved ones) face after receiving a dementia diagnosis. It also integrates the support available to people with dementia (and their caregivers) along the way. Players answer questions about the process, which encourages teams to discuss issues around the cost of dementia care, clinical implications, different types of the disease and treatments.
“My research at the University primarily highlights challenges people come up against after receiving a diagnosis,” Clarissa Giebel, PhD, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Population Health at the University of Liverpool, said in a statement.
“It’s our work with partners and those with lived experience that allows us to find the solutions to these issues. We know dementia isn’t fun, but this table-top game creates an opportunity for people to come together in an informal way and have open and enlightening conversations.”
A multidisciplinary team recently got together to play the game and highlight what it has to offer. That group included people with dementia, caregivers, healthcare providers and specialists. The group was known as the Liverpool Service User Reference Forum. The players largely praised the game for being “true to life,” as it reflected people’s experiences with dementia from a variety of perspectives. It was also “fun,” one player said, because it educated them on the challenges people face.
“The Lewy Body Society is delighted to be involved in the design and development of this game,” said Jacqueline Cannon, chief executive of The Lewy Body Society, who was also at the event when the group played the game. “It is an innovative way to have the conversation about dementia inequalities. People living with a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia experience problems with diagnosis, mis-diagnosis, care and support.”
While it may not be front and center at toy stores, the game has been made for caregivers, healthcare professionals and students. The Lewy Body Society will sell the game.
