Social Work Student - HELP :)

[Stephanie SWS]

Hello!

I hope no one minds me posting here. I have found this website so useful as a point of information for my current studies and wondered if you (members) would mind helping me out with some group work I am planning!

I have organized a small (3-4 people) reminiscence group session. I have split it up into small activities, one of which is as follows.

I am going to write questions/prompts on pieces of card and insert them into colorful balloons. Each member can pick 1 balloon at a time and I will pop it revealing the question inside for them to answer.

What questions/prompts would you use?

My ideas so far are:
*favorite smell (can lead me to asking why etc..)
*tell me about your first kiss
*tell me about a childhood friend


Any feedback/suggestions for questions would be much appreciated!

The 'group' I have are diagnosed with Dementia but have fairly good cognition skills so will cope with simple questions, and I am prepared to answer all the questions myself so if any individual struggles or doesn't wish to answer I can take the lead and maybe prompt by asking about smells, colors etc


Thanks

 

[Jessbow]

Not sure about popping balloons.

 

[Stephanie SWS]

Not sure about popping balloons.

Ye I have checked with the Care Home, they regularly have 'tea parties' with balloons and enjoy popping them. I suppose just to be on the safe side tho I could tie the card on a string from the balloon- no popping involved then.

Thanks

 

[Butter]

Welcome. I wonder if you are in the US? Your spelling suggests so -

I think if you are working with older people, as dementia sufferers are, you can rely on more concrete events, rather than emotional memories.

I think people would be surprised/shocked to be asked about their first kiss. They will be more comfortable with memories of the war, the country of their birth, their work, their children.

We are quite old on here! (or at least I am).

 

[Stephanie SWS]

Welcome. I wonder if you are in the US? Your spelling suggests so -

I think if you are working with older people, as dementia sufferers are, you can rely on more concrete events, rather than emotional memories.

I think people would be surprised/shocked to be asked about their first kiss. They will be more comfortable with memories of the war, the country of their birth, their work, their children.

We are quite old on here! (or at least I am).

No I'm form Wales- spelling is down to spell check I think! That's the kind of feedback I was looking for- that 'first kiss' question came from a book and I wasn't sure if it was appropriate or not. I'm a bit stuck because I want to ask questions which provoke memory's and allow people to think and share but I don't want to be intrusive. Its tough!

I'm on my final year of my training and this is my first experience of working with adults (previously I have worked with children).

 

[Pollyanna]

Hi

Obviously, you know the group better that anyone here, but I think you would need to simplify the questions further and reduce the need to then question the answer.

Your favourite pet? Holiday destination? TV programme? Favourite food?

If you were to ask me about a childhood friend, I'd have to give it some considerable thought to remember any, then decide which ones I liked, choose one, remember their name and then try and recall something to share with you.

If you asked a simple question, for example 'what's your favourite food' you'll get a range of answers and everyone can join in.

Just my thoughts

Good Luck!

 

[Stephanie SWS]

Hi

Obviously, you know the group better that anyone here, but I think you would need to simplify the questions further and reduce the need to then question the answer.

Your favourite pet? Holiday destination? TV programme? Favourite food?

If you were to ask me about a childhood friend, I'd have to give it some considerable thought to remember any, then decide which ones I liked, choose one, remember their name and then try and recall something to share with you.

If you asked a simple question, for example 'what's your favourite food' you'll get a range of answers and everyone can join in.

Just my thoughts

Good Luck!

Thank you very much. I am meeting with the care home manager tomorrow morning so the help Ive had form you all is much appreciated. Popping balloons dose seem like a bit of a silly idea now Ive stepped back and thought about it! I will defiantly be using stings I think! And the question pointers have been very helpful.


Thank you

 

[JaneDee]

I ran a similar activity recently!

I did a similar activity recently (on my PP1) but with a larger group so I chose to do pass the parcel. I wasn't sure if they would find it too childish at first but they really enjoyed it and there was a gift at the end, only a small one though like a pack of sweets that could be shared.

The questions, which were in each wrapped layer, varied from 'tell us about your favourite food', to 'what was the first TV programme you watched'. I stayed away from the war time questions as the group of service users I was working with were not that old. I did also ask the daring 'tell us about your first kiss' question at which everyone giggled at but no-one would answer, so instead I told a silly story from when I was 5 years old and was kissed on the hand!!

The questions which they seemed to enjoy answering the most were about favourite holidays, animals or pets, favourite item of clothing, how they spent their first pay packet or what they saved up for when they were first working.

If the questions were I ever met with silence I instead shared a story of my own which often prompted more memories and discussions from the group.

I hope that helps!!

 

[jan.s]

It sounds a good way to interact with people. Smell can be dubious, as I was told by Consultant that the sense of smell goes with AD.

I agree with more concrete questions. For this with poor memory, maybe some card prompts would help.

I hope it goes well.

Jan

 

[src123]

popping balloons

Ye I have checked with the Care Home, they regularly have 'tea parties' with balloons and enjoy popping them. I suppose just to be on the safe side tho I could tie the card on a string from the balloon- no popping involved then.

Thanks

My elderly relative who I now care for hates noise. So a popping balloon would upset her. A care home is not necessarily the best place to ask for advice in my experience. Also finding out what the group members interests are would make things a little more flexible.

 

[WillSamson]

A very cool and unusual topic, I haven't met students who are engaged in social assistance for a long time. When I was still a student, it was considered an honour to help elderly people, people in difficult situations or homeless people. At such moments, when I could not pay attention to my studies, I was saved by the ghost writing service, which allowed me to spend more time on the practical side of my studies, and only then on the theoretical. So I can say that while I was studying, I was involved in all social projects.