Poster Presentation Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting 2025

To Know Me is to understand me: Digital life stories in residential dementia care (119919)

Katrina Anderson 1 2 , Annaliese Blair 1 2 , Sunil Bhar 3 , Rebecca Collins 1 , Catherine Bateman 1 , Michael Bird 1 , Ian Cameron 4 , Sue Kurrle 4 , Victoria Traynor 5 6 , Michelle Chate 6 , Tracy Comans 7 , Elaine Todd 1
  1. School of Medicine and Psychology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
  2. Aged Care Evaluation Unit, Southern NSW Local Health District, Queanbeyan, NSW, Australia
  3. Swinburne Wellbeing Clinic for Older Adults, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  4. Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  5. University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland, Australia
  6. Warrigal Aged Care, Albion Park, NSW, Australia
  7. National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Aims: To Know Me is to Understand Me is an innovative, person-centred intervention which aims to rapidly and easily improve health and aged care staff knowledge of the person with dementia, thereby increasing holistic, person-centred care and quality of life.

Methods: Healthcare students conducted 16 weekly reminiscence sessions with people with dementia in Residential Aged Care Facilities and produced a four-minute digital life story video, to share with health and aged care staff. The stories contain information about the person’s values, preferences and key life events, shared on a summary poster with a QR code link to the video. The study is a prospective mixed method, pragmatic, randomised, controlled trial comparing the Know Me stories to usual care and reminiscence sessions only.

Results:. In qualitative interviews, staff who watched the digital stories reported knowing more about the resident’s previous life. They reported being more easily able to begin conversations with the resident and were hopeful this information would enable more individualised care in the future. Most felt the stories provide richer and more engaging information than existing written life story summaries. However, many reported barriers to accessing the stories including a lack of time and a quiet space to watch the video, and difficulty using the QR code and password to access the video.

Conclusions: The Know Me package enables health and aged care staff to more easily and quickly learn about a resident, which translates to avenues for improved person-centred care.