Creative dementia network

An exploration of the interplay between memory and make believe in creative storytelling by people with dementia.

Overview

Drug treatments for dementia remain very limited, but there’s growing evidence that non-drug therapies can make life with dementia better, if not longer. Prior research in Latin America demonstrated that online creative expression therapies had a positive impact on participants’ mental health and wellbeing. This project will explore the positive impact of online creative storytelling involving both memory and make believe with 50 people living with dementia in the UK. Working with online training provider Goldster, it will also consider how to design and deliver such activities as future digital health and wellbeing therapies for people with dementia. The project is led by Stephen Fay in the School of Literature and Languages, Anne-Marie Greenaway as a part-time Research Associate, and David Frohlich of Digital World Research Centre.

The project is funded by the University of Surrey AHRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) and runs from November 2023 for 9 months.