School of Education, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
School of the Arts, English and Media, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Health Promot J Austr. 2024 Jan;35(1):251-259. doi: 10.1002/hpja.739. Epub 2023 Jun 15.
As the population ages the prevalence of dementia increases and children are increasingly experiencing family members and older friends living with dementia. Unfortunately, stigma about living with dementia is common. Increasing understanding about dementia among children has the potential to reduce this stigma. This paper reports on the qualitative findings of Project DARE (dementia knowledge, art, research and education), a school-based, multi-modal, arts program designed to increase understanding about dementia among children aged 8-10 years.
A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to understand students' experience of the intervention. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes emerging from interviews with randomly selected students (n = 40) who had taken part in the program.
The data analysis generated three themes related to students' awareness of dementia and experiences of the program: (1) nurturing empathy, (2) memory loss is complex, (3) learning about dementia through the arts to promote resilience. These themes show that the intervention increased students' awareness of dementia, and empathy towards people who are both directly and indirectly affected by dementia.
Although dementia education can be viewed as too sensitive for primary aged students, the current study demonstrates that such initiatives are feasible and can be effectively implemented with this age group. SO WHAT?: Changing student's beliefs about dementia can positively impact their relationships with people living with dementia.
随着人口老龄化，痴呆症的患病率不断增加，越来越多的儿童开始经历家人和年长的朋友患有痴呆症。不幸的是，痴呆症患者普遍受到污名化。提高儿童对痴呆症的认识有可能减少这种污名化。本文报告了基于学校的多模式艺术项目“勇敢面对痴呆症”（DARE，痴呆症知识、艺术、研究和教育）的定性研究结果，该项目旨在提高 8-10 岁儿童对痴呆症的认识。
采用建构主义扎根理论方法来理解学生对干预措施的体验。对随机选择的（n=40）参加过该项目的学生进行访谈，使用主题分析来确定关键主题。
数据分析产生了三个与学生对痴呆症的认识和对项目的体验相关的主题：（1）培养同理心，（2）记忆丧失是复杂的，（3）通过艺术了解痴呆症以促进适应力。这些主题表明，干预措施提高了学生对痴呆症的认识和对直接和间接受痴呆症影响的人的同理心。
尽管对小学生来说，痴呆症教育可能被视为过于敏感，但本研究表明，这些举措是可行的，可以有效地在这个年龄段实施。那么，我们应该怎么做呢？改变学生对痴呆症的信念可以对他们与痴呆症患者的关系产生积极影响。
