The video game that’s leveling up dementia education

Globetrotting Australian entrepreneur, creative media and tech connoisseur Dr Mandy Salomon is leading dementia care’s foray into the video game world, solving large-scale challenges through next-generation educational tools.

Now, following the launch of CarePlay, a creative immersive role-playing video game that enhances dementia care skills for caregivers, the Mentia Health Chief Scientist is ready to help the sector level up once again. 

Dr Salomon co-founded Mentia Health alongside Algis Leveckis, an experienced international dementia care and senior living advisor for start-ups, and Serge Soudoplatoff, an IT specialist, mathematician and software engineer by training. 

The trio are integral parts of the Mentia Health team that has developed three innovative products: DevaWorld, MentiaCompanion and CarePlay. 

With roots in journalism and creative media, Dr Salomon brings a unique perspective to dementia care. She crossed into academia, where she received her Ph.D. at the Swinburne University of Technology for her work on inclusive design for people with dementia, and for developing digital systems that enable them to participate. 

This passion project was spurred on by past experiences analysing and exploring emerging elements of internet culture. She found that online multiplayer role-playing games helped people living with disabilities to become part of a supportive community filled with no stigma or judgement. They could create avatars with ‘can do’ attitudes and no limitations. 

Dr Salomon wondered whether the same could be said for people living with dementia or cognitive impairment.

“I couldn’t find anyone that had a cognitive impairment, likely because the systems were too complex. But I thought if we could simplify them so that everyone could use them, would the same thing happen for people with cognitive decline? Could they express themselves differently and be better enabled inside these virtual environments?” Dr Salomon told Hello Leaders.

“When I came to studying dementia I looked at it with fresh eyes of a creative mindset rather than a nursing mindset. I was able to distil from the cultural elements of dementia as compared to the biomedical ones. 

“That led me down a path of doing a PhD, Expressing ‘self’ in a virtual world: Digital engagement for people with moderate to severe dementia. Part of that PhD was creating a prototype and that was an investigation into all the cultural aspects of dementia. I developed a virtual world that was co-designed with people who live with dementia in long-term residential care.”

This prototype led to Mentia Health and DevaWorld, a virtual world where older people living in long-term care could complete self-affirming activities, interact with other users and engage with videos, music and photos uploaded by their own caregivers.

While DevaWorld was co-designed by people living with dementia, caregivers/care partners were required to help them navigate the virtual world. Unfortunately, many didn’t have the time or understanding to provide appropriate social or emotional support.

MentiaCompanion was created to overcome this hurdle. Using an AI-driven communication system, users do not require direct support to explore immersive environments. Instead, the game’s inbuilt companions direct conversations, activities and engagement. 

MentiaCompanion only solved one problem, though. Care partners still required more knowledge and tools to understand how to provide social and emotional support. Thus, CarePlay was born.

“Staff are not taught how to provide emotional and social support to someone. Yet that’s mandated by the Australian Government. We think it’s important to help those people who are at the coalface, at the frontline, to have some techniques and approaches they can use,” Dr Salomon said.

“CarePlay is a video game where you meet characters inside a residential care home. They all have different communication skills, they have different reactions to things they don’t understand and you have to try and work your way through these tasks and help people.”

Modules help users to explore creative ways to ease distress, understand behaviour as a form of communication, and learn how to simplify tasks and encourage independence. 

“Most training comes from a medical or nursing construct which is necessary because that’s where the knowledge is. But traditional e-learning typically means multiple choice questions, some audio/visual content and a linear approach to learning,” Dr Salomon added. 

“Experiential gaming helps people to apply their knowledge in a risk-free environment. Learning experience. When you’re playing the game you feel like you’re active, you have agency. If you compare that to traditional e-learning you can’t say it’s an experience, you’re not immersed in it. 

“You’re actively making choices and in CarePlay there are consequences for the actions which users can learn from.”

The game itself is very intuitive while progressing through various scenarios, such as sensitively helping someone change their clothes or supporting a new resident on their first day in residential care. A flexible learning environment also means it can be completed in one fit in with an organisation’s own approach to training. 

Early feedback is wholly positive, with a pilot in the US significantly improving dementia care knowledge. Mentia Health is now piloting the program in Australia with a home care provider, while Alzheimers New Zealand will distribute the tool across the ditch. 

Anyone interested in learning more about Mentia Health and its products can email Monique Pockran, Community Manager, at [email protected].