Review of RYCTT project: Slovakia

2-day training course

• “The educational programme of creative reminiscence met my expectations, I've got information about reminiscence in practice, I can enjoy a practical exercises and I found new opportunities to do my job with elderly"
  Trainee

  The training was delivered by Slovak members of RYCTT Project – Team of Civic Association Terapeutika: Katarina Kiselakova, Henrieta Kosalova, Maria Cunderlikova.
• 17 participants attended the 2-day training course from several regions of Slovakia
• The trainees were from various backgrounds: social senior care staff, curative pedagogues, psychologists, social workers, an art therapist, a physiotherapist, a family member.
• 8 participants who attended the training then went on to lead 5 different reminiscence groups

Films we created:

The films below are parts 1 and 2 and show an overview of our RYCTT project in Kosice, Slovakia.

More information can be found on our website: www.terapeutika.sk

Apprenticeship

• “It is the last chance to be with loved ones, to hear them, because it may not be like that for much longer”
  Family carer

  14 apprentices participated in the project and each was involved in running reminscence groups
• Groups were run in 5 residential houses for seniors, and 1 individual worked from home  
• Each group ran between 3 and 10 weekly sessions, in which several people with dementia and their family carers participated
• In total, 106 people from families were involved in the project: 18 men and 44 women with dementia, plus 5 men and 29 women carers.

Assessment of apprentices:

• “Thanks to the reminiscence meetings, I had the opportunity to see how my close relative´s memories stimulated and rejuvenated him/her and how joint sharing delighted us.

  I have learned something new and inspirational for my life. It inspired me so much that I would like to realize reminiscence with my Mum in the future."
  Family carer

  The apprentices gave us feedback via e-mail, phone calls and during our personal visits on some reminiscence sessions.
• In one case, the apprentice provided feedback in the form of a video report from each session.
• All of them sent us summary information about how they ran reminiscence sessions.

The outline for each session:

• In three cases apprentices followed what they planned and they used project´s suggested criteria.
• In individual reminiscence work apprentices had to adapt to seniors’ changing needs (eg. selection of topics, timing etc.).
• In the case of one group, apprentices continued with reminiscence sessions so they didn't follow suggested topics.

Certification:

• We organized the final meeting on March 1, 2014 where each apprentice as leader of the reminiscence group presented their PowerPoint contribution about the reminiscence experiences with end-products
• 14 participants were awarded certificates at the end of the apprenticeship

Feedback from families involved in the project

• "Ah, how nice it is to recall things.” (Elderly person with Dementia)
• "I am very positively surprised how you spend so much time, with love and respect, and the exciting activities you plan for the elderly. These meetings are very stimulating and useful for them, extremely important for a sense of recognition and being heard by their relatives" (Family carer)
• “It is a very good experience for me, I really love this job and I would like to continue in this.” (Professional carer in residential home)

Our recommendations for future similar projects

• Promote personal creativity - we think there should be space for creative work with materials during the training program. That could help to discover self creativity in each apprentice. The creativity is important for bringing new ideas in end-reminiscence products.
• Communication training - for the apprentice as a group leader. Apprentices asked this question: "How should I respond when a client gets angry or starts to cry during the rememberance?“ Therefore we consider the communication training necessary and should be implemented in the training, too.
• Group dynamics training - "How to manage connections between seniors and between senior and family carers?“ That was another question from apprentices that it would be good to address.
• Organizing a meeting before running reminiscence for family carers only - it would be a good way to motivate family carers to cooperate. It is also important to give them in advance all the necessary information about what is reminiscence, why it is important, and how to cooperate and communicate with seniors during meetings.

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