Grant: Summer Program in Aging

This Study explores the use of creative storytelling to support the well-being of south Asian residents living with dementia in a long-term care facility in Canada. The approach, called Timeslips, is a method of storytelling which invites people to share an imaginative story based on evocative images. I seek to adapt the TimeSlips approach by using culturally relevant images, and to test its effectiveness for maintaining or improving cognitive function, and improving well-being and quality of social interactions for a group of South Asian residents in long term care who are living with dementia. In my study, instead of using the TimeSlips gallery of provided images, I will create a repository of culturally relevant images which meet TimeSlips criteria for being evocative for storytelling. To do this, I will conduct three focus group consultations with older adults in the South Asian community in BC's lower mainland to share images and obtain feedback. I will then implement a 10-week series of TimeSlips storytelling workshops in a long-term care facility in Surrey BC, with South Asian residents living with dementia. To measure the program's impact, we will assess changes in residents' cognition, mood, well-being, and social interactions before and after the program using validated assessment tools. We will also incorporate certain stories created by residents using TimeSlips into a devised performance which involves residents living with dementia. This performance, shared with an invited audience of family and friends at the long-term care facility, will counter dementia stigma by showcasing the creativity of people living with dementia and involving them in live performance.