Co-producing and adaptation of a dementia inequalities board game for children

Workshops to introduce a children-friendly version of the Dementia Inequalities Board Game to raise awareness and understanding of dementia among young children.

Dr Megan Polden, a Postdoctoral Researcher from the Institute of Population Health utilised her public engagement grant to organize two innovative workshops aimed at exploring the potential of a child-friendly adaptation of the Dementia Inequalities Board Game...

Following the successful development of the dementia inequalities board game which aims to increase adults' knowledge about dementia and inequalities, there has been growing interest from the general public to produce a children’s version of the game.

In response we examined whether a co-produced version of the board game specifically designed for children aged 5-11 could offer an engaging educational tool to raise awareness and understanding of dementia.

Engaging with People Living with Dementia

We conducted two in-person public consultation workshops, one with children aged between 7-8 years old and their parents/ guardians and primary school teachers and one workshop with people living with dementia and unpaid carers.

Discussions for both workshops focused on getting feedback on whether people feel an adapted version of the board game is needed and whether people feel this would help educate children and facilitate discussions around dementia. During the workshops, attendees were shown the existing game and asked to provide feedback on whether this game should be adapted for children and how.

We hope that initial findings from these workshops will aid in securing further funding to produce the child adapted version of the board game which can then be showcased at various public engagement events and within schools to raise awareness of dementia in an engaging manner suitable for younger populations.

TOP TIPS!

Connections take time: Ensure sufficient time to develop and establish connections and partnerships with local support groups and primary schools. Forming these connections take time and often longer than anticipated.

Use Existing Partnerships: We recommend that future projects with short timeframes either build on existing partnerships or to factor in time to develop new ones within the grant period. For this project, we leveraged existing connections to deliver the workshops on time, but without them, it would have been more challenging. The grant helped strengthen and further develop these partnerships. 

Read more about the Dementia Inequalities Board Game, which was co-created by the University of Liverpool, The Lewy Body Society, and third sector representatives in collaboration with people who have lived experience of dementia.