A new mobile application in Singapore is taking an innovative approach to communications training for caregivers of people with dementia. 

The Institute of Mental Health (IMH), a tertiary psychiatric care hospital under the National Healthcare Group in Singapore, has collaborated with Taggle, a connected digital health platform provider, to create the Play2Care app.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

Now available on both Android and iOS app stores, Play2Care gamifies the training of dementia caregivers. It features a series of explanatory videos on the T.A.N.G.O. approach in caregiving developed by IMH. The videos show how the techniques can be applied in five commonly encountered scenarios in dementia caregiving. 

"In the Play2Care app, Taggle used technology to recreate interactive scenarios for caregivers to practice T.A.N.G.O, so that it becomes a natural way for caregivers to react when faced with the real situation," explained Taggle CEO Lee Seng Beo. 

Additionally, Play2Care has mini-games that caregivers can play with their patients. The app was also designed with adult caregivers in mind, incorporating elements such as a large font size, high-contrast coloured buttons, and reduced speed in voiceover and animations.   

IMH shared that Play2Care proved to enhance carers' dementia knowledge and comfort level in interacting with persons with dementia in a small pilot involving five participants.

WHY IT MATTERS

Behavioural changes in people with dementia pose a challenge to caregivers. These changes, which are actual attempts to communicate their unmet needs, can stress out caregivers who lack understanding. Agitation, reversed sleep-wake patterns, refusal to shower, repeated requests for food and growing suspicions are some of the most common behavioural issues that caregivers struggle to understand, according to the IMH. 

"This knowledge gap of how to communicate effectively with persons with dementia often stems from a lack of understanding of these behaviours and that a different set of communication techniques is required. While we can offer medical advice and treatment, there has to be a more creative way to impart communication techniques that caregivers can apply in their day-to-day routines to alleviate stress. This is why we initiated this app," Dr Yao Fengyuan, a senior consultant and chief of the IMH Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, explained.

To manage these behaviours, the IMH offers the T.A.N.G.O. communication strategy, which stands for the following techniques: a tender approach; acknowledging emotions and unmet needs; never challenging behaviours; getting into simple conversations; and optimising the environment to promote comfort and independence. 

Attending lectures to learn common challenging behaviours and ways to manage them, according to Ong Xin Ling, a senior occupational therapist at IMH, no longer suffices. "We need a supplemental platform beyond the classroom setting for caregivers to practise and implement those communication strategies learnt," she added.

THE LARGER TREND

As global staff shortages also hit the senior care sector, digital approaches, such as the use of mobile technologies and robotics, have been explored in recent years.

In Singapore, a prototype of a mobile app that helps senior folks improve their multilingual thinking to arrest dementia progression was recently rolled out in active ageing centres.  

A project in Australia called MATCH, which has received $1 million from Google.org, is incorporating into a caregivers' training app a music-based intervention for regulating the mood of individuals with dementia.

Also in Australia, startup Andromeda Robotics offers its humanoid robot, Abi, which was built to be an empathetic companion to elderly residents in nursing homes.

The deployment of companion robots, such as the AI-driven PIO and Channy, has been a trend among local South Korean governments to keep solo-living seniors company at home.