In order to promote communication among people with mild elderly cognitive impairment, enhance their sense of belonging to the group, improve their cognitive abilities such as attention, reflexes, and memory, and delay the development of geriatric cognitive impairment. On December 12, 2023, with the support and guidance of the Chengdu Civil Affairs Bureau, the Chengdu Social Organization Community and Social Work Talent Service Center, the Jinniu District Civil Affairs Bureau, Yingmen Street, and the Chadian Community, Chengdu Datong Social Workers launched the fifth session of the Peer Support Group for the Mild Elderly with Cognitive Impairment at the Chadian Community Party and Mass Service Center, with a total of 12 elderly people at cognitive risk and their families participating.
01 Warm-up game
At the beginning of the activity, the social worker led the elderly to review the content of the previous week's Xi. The elderly can roughly recall elements such as waves, sea breeze, and seagulls, and the social worker has supplemented them to help them deepen their memory of group activities. In order to create a relaxed and active group atmosphere, the social worker led the elderly to beat with hand bells and castanets while leading the Indonesian nursery rhyme "Papaya Cha Cha Cha". In upbeat songs, the elders need to concentrate on catching the "Cha Cha Cha" section and then striking the instrument three times according to the rhythm. At first, the old people were not quite able to keep up with the rhythm of the song. After practicing Xi over and over again, most elderly people can react quickly. The social worker also added three questions according to the lyrics to help the elderly remember key information when listening to the songs, so as to achieve the purpose of exercising the memory of the elderly.
02 Meditation
In today's activity, the social worker also joined the ** meditation session to help the elderly improve their concentration and devote themselves to the next link in a better state. In the soothing **, the old people followed the instructions and did breathing and relaxing Xi. Under the repeated inhalation and exhalation, the body and mind of the old people can slowly relax.
03 Sound sitcom
The "Boat in the Storm" sound effect sitcom is a big challenge for the elderly. The social worker breaks this down into small tasks to help the elderly complete them successfully. The elders were divided into three groups according to different sound effects: some used castanets to simulate the sound of rain, some used sand hammers to simulate the sound of wind, and some used clinking bells to simulate the sound of temple bells. With the concerted efforts of the elderly and the guidance of social workers, everyone took the "Peer Support Number" and used musical instruments, singing, and body rhythm to deduce a small boat that rode the wind and waves in the wind and rain.
Through this group activity, the elderly not only exercised their brains and bodies, but also found a sense of belonging through mutual communication and cooperation. The confidence of the elderly has gradually been built, from "I can't" to "I can". Since then, our peer support group activities are coming to an end, and next Tuesday, social workers will work with the elderly to bring the group activities to a successful conclusion.