'Facebook for care homes' helps care homes create 'reminiscence' life stories for residents

Personalised care is crucial in care settings and even more so for people living with dementia. Finding innovative ways to engage residents in reminiscence therapy, life story sessions and activities is no easy task with carehome.co.uk recently reporting that just over half of residents in care homes and their relatives rated activities as 'Excellent'.

One of the latest innovations and apps which have been designed to aid care homes and their staff to deliver person-centred care, is Storii, created by Strathclyde University business student, Cameron Graham.

‘Facebook for the care sector’

Described as a ‘Facebook for the care sector’, Storii is helping to bring families and care home residents together.

Creator Cameron Graham came up with the idea for Storii after being hospitalised himself with kidney failure. He said: “The concept for Storii was born when I was in a hospital ward in Glasgow in 2014. I saw an older man struggling with his memory and he was visibly distressed.

"I found it fascinating to see that when his granddaughter came to visit him, together they looked through photographs of his life, which had a profound effect on his memory and temperament - he was much more comfortable around the nursing staff. When she left, he receded back to his previous state.

“I was surprised to learn that there was no go-to product to help carers with life story and reminiscence work in a care setting. As soon as I learnt this, I registered the business, and since then Storii has grown into a tool that helps not only older generations, but anyone that wants to store their life memories in one, easy place.

Digitising and sharing memories

Storii was created to help primary carers, families and care workers in residential care settings create personalised life stories for people living with dementia.

Families are able to use the platform to share family photos and other media. Care staff can log in and show residents what has been uploaded to their account and run reminiscence sessions to track what is useful for improving a resident's level of happiness and wellbeing.

As part of their research development, Storii has been working with several care homes in Scotland to trial the product.

Matt Shore is a social support worker and IT champion at Newark Care’s Westacres care home in Glasgow. He has been working at the home for the past three years and has been using Storii with residents since May this year as part of regular reminiscence sessions with residents.

Explaining how residents benefit from Storii, Mr Shore said: “We use Storii to upload pictures and videos of the residents. Some of the content is residents in the lounges spending time with the staff chatting, during visits from family members, at group activities, out on trips or during events during the home. The staff use Storii to reminisce with the residents showing them what’s on Storii, some of which is uploaded by the family so it contains things like moments in their earlier life or what their family is up to."

Recognising the work of care staff

Care staff can upload photos of activities at the home and tag different residents in them so their families are also kept up to date with regular events and activities that their loved one is participating in.

Mr Shore added: “There is something you can do for everyone whether it's looking at pictures of their wedding day or one of their grandchildren's first day at school. Some of the residents are fully capable of telling you everything that’s happening and enjoy being able to talk about themselves, other residents that are at advanced stages of dementia can explain things when they have a visual aid and a bit of prompting which they wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

The app allows care staff and family members to collate playlists of music and video clips to aid with reminiscence and life story sessions. Storii also offers a messaging feature, allowing family members to send messages to their loved one and comment on photos and videos uploaded to their account.

Mr Shore said: “Storii allows us to showcase more of what’s going on in the home. Storii has provided us with a platform to present all of the activities that go on in the home each day, there is always something we can document, whether is a large event like a themed restaurant night with performers or an afternoon at the home with a few staff in a lounge singing and dancing and wearing costumes.

“Previously to reminisce with a resident about their wedding day for example, the family would need to provide photographs or other mementos from that day or event which might be too difficult to come by or too precious to bring into the home. With Storii you can upload photographs from the day and photographs of objects and they will always be available for use. The great thing with Storii is if it’s used to its full potential, it’s possible to meet a resident for the first time and with the use of Storii learn all about them and be able to spend a few hours having a chat about their lives and experiences.

Improving lives through memories

“Families will sometimes visit and ask residents ‘What have you been up to today?’ and they can only reply with ‘I don't know’ or ‘I can't remember’. With the aid of Storii they are able to recall their day and explain what's happening in the picture instead of just being confused and upset that they have no memory of the day.

“Since using Storii, family and friends of the residents have felt a lot more reassured and comforted by Storii as they have been able to see what the resident has been up to.”

Though Storii was originally designed to support people with dementia, it is accessible for everyone from a range of ages and abilities and care homes only need one iPad or internet enabled tablet or computer for all residents at the home to benefit from Storii.

Its creator Mr Graham said: “It's a platform that doesn’t stigmatise, anyone young or old will be happy to use Storii (not just those living with dementia). We pair it with functionality for care organisations allowing them to improve their care processes and access content to be useful in reminiscence and life story work.”

For more information on Storii, visit: storii.com/