Using arts-based learning in medical education to facilitate non-scientific elements of medicine such as communication social political and spiritual issues (De le Croix et al 2011) and health education within schools (Perry et al 2002) has been well received. However the use of illness-related theatrical performances in the context of health care education is also seen to offer an innovative and emerging pedagogical modality (Shapiro and Hunt 2003; O’Connor et al 2012; Colantonio et al 2008). Drama through live theatre provides an opportunity to engage with the characters imaginatively and emotionally with the intention of enhancing the learning experience. “Grandma Remember Me” is a story about a special relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter and draws on the experiences of living with someone with dementia written and performed by the Az2B Theatre Company. It was performed at the House of Commons prior to the UK hosting the first G8 summit specifically dedicated to tackle dementia at an international level.
There is a need to educate society in dementia and its awareness. Recent demographics published by the Alzheimer’s Research UK (alzheimersresearchuk.org 2016) state that currently there are 850 000 (1.3%) people with a form of dementia in the UK of which 42 000 are younger people (assumed to be under 65 years). With increasing life expectancy it is estimated that there will be over one million affected by 2025 with an expectation of rising to over 2 million by 2050 if age-specific prevalence remains stable and are only driven by demographic ageing. The prevalence rates (the frequency with which dementia occurs in the population) increases with age: 40-64 years (1 in 1400); 65-69 years (1 in 100); 70-79 years (1 in 25) and over 80 years (1 in 6). Furthermore the role of carers cannot be under-estimated with 700 000 carers of people with dementia and family carers save the UK over £8billion a year with the expectation to rise to 1.7 million carers by 2050. The global prevalence of dementia is equally worrying. The World Alzheimer Report (Prince et al 2015) states there are 46.8 million people worldwide with dementia with a predicted increase to over 75 million and 130 million by 2030 and 2050 respectively.
Furthermore Health Education England’s mandate 2015/16 (www.hee.nhs.uk/) on dementia education requires Universities to develop the content of their curricula for health and social care programmes to ensure health and social care professionals have the correct knowledge and skills to care for people with dementia. Therefore as a response the School of Health Sciences engaged a theatre company to deliver the messages about dementia. “Grandma Remember Me” highlights the importance of relationships and memories for both carers and individuals with dementia as told by a young girl’s experience of her grandmother’s dementia.
The longitudinal study evaluates the use of theatre for dementia awareness and training and the impact of the performance on the attitudes of first and final year undergraduates towards people living and those caring for people with dementia will also be reported.
