"It Is Part of Belonging": Walking Groups to Promote Social Health amongst People Living with Dementia

People with dementia often report experiencing a ‘shrinking world’ connected with reduced opportunities to access physical and social spaces. This article applies the framework of social health (Dröes et al., 2017; Huber et al., 2011) as a theoretical lens through which to consider how inclusive walking groups can facilitate access to places and spaces to support people with dementia to remain connected in their communities. Findings are reported from walking interviews and focus group discussions with people with dementia, family carers, volunteers and walk leaders who participated in a national programme of dementia-friendly walking groups in Scotland. Thematic analysis of the data demonstrates that participation has a positive impact on social health, supporting people living with dementia to fulfil their potential, to engage in meaningful activity and to manage both their condition and their wider lives. Benefits include providing a context for continuing social participation and relationships for people with dementia and family carers. Additionally, groups provide a safe space where people with dementia can walk with autonomy and help to reinforce a sense of capacity and agency. Wider implications include the role of walking groups in fostering interdependencies between people with dementia and their wider communities by promoting an enabling ethos of dementia ‘inclusiveness.’ The benefits of developing an inclusive and supportive approach to involving people living with dementia in walking groups could extend more broadly to the wider community, with such initiatives acting as a catalyst for growing levels of social participation

Othering Older People’s Housing: Gaming Ageing to Support Future-Planning

The ‘othering’ of ageing is linked to an integrated process of ageism and hinders future planning for both individuals and practitioners delivering housing and health services. This paper aims to explore how creative interventions can help personalise, exchange knowledge and lead to systems change that tackles the ‘othering’ of ageing. The Designing Homes for Healthy Cognitive Ageing (DesHCA) project offers new and creative insights through an innovative methodology utilising ‘serious games’ with a co-produced tool called ‘Our House’ that supports insight on how to deliver housing for older people for ageing well in place. In a series of playtests with over 128 people throughout the UK, the findings show that serious games allow interaction, integration and understanding of how ageing affects people professionality and personally. The empirical evidence highlights that the game mechanisms allowed for a more in-depth and nuanced consideration of ageing in a safe and creative environment. These interactions and discussions enable individuals to personalise and project insights to combat the ‘othering’ of ageing. However, the solutions are restrained as overcoming the consequences of ageism is a societal challenge with multi-layered solutions. The paper concludes that serious gaming encourages people to think differently about the concept of healthy ageing – both physically and cognitively – with consideration of scalable and creative solutions to prepare for ageing-in-place