Friends of Dementia is the proud brainchild of three undergraduates from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.

Supported by the National Youth Council and Central Singapore Community Development Council, the campaign ran with a ‘by youths, for youths’ approach.

With most existing dementia-awareness initiatives targeted at the middle-aged, this campaign served as a youth-centric introduction of the local dementia landscape. Informational talks and campus roadshows were conducted in institutes such as National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Temasek Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Republic Polytechnic.

The campaign also received a number of media mentions both in print (Lianhe Zaobao on our survey findings) as well as online (The Online Citizen and Singapore Kindness Movement).

For social media, we received mentions from many other organisations’ Facebook page, such as National Neuroscience Institute, and we even managed to receive support from two influencers, @helloqing_ and @tylerhikaru, both of which have a large number of youth followers on their Instagram account.

 

Pick up a postcard c/o of @friendsofdementiasg ❤️????????

A post shared by — Q I N G — (@helloqing_) on

In addition, we were invited down to two secondary schools, Fuhua Secondary School and Bowen Secondary School to share more about dementia and a dementia-friendly community. Subsequently, we were invited to the Integrated Eldercare Network, organised by National Council of Social Service (NCSS) to share our campaign highlights with all the eldercare agencies in Singapore.

Our team also collaborated with ‘Forget Us Not’, a joint initiative by Lien Foundation and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, aimed at creating a Dementia-Friendly Community in Singapore.

The goal of the campaign was simple. It was to get youths be ‘Friends of Dementia’. So, what exactly is a ‘Friend of Dementia’? It is someone who:

  • Has general knowledge about what dementia is about;
  • Has a positive attitude towards people with dementia (PWD); and
  • Is willing and able to help a PWD in need.

As such, our campaign strategies were all streamlined to fulfill these three main requirements. What we set out to do was not to directly recruit volunteers, but rather to instill a certain mindset in Singapore’s youths to prepare our nation for the dementia-related challenges ahead.

We created a video of six students from various local universities who sat down in front of the camera and played games which simulated symptoms of dementia. The intention was to demonstrate the reality of dementia to youths. Watch the video below:

 

The Highlights

The Overwhelming Enthusiasm

One thing that really encouraged and spurred us on along the way was the favourable response we received from the youths we reached out to. At our roadshows in the various institutions, we were surprised by the number of people gathered at our booth.

One particular incident which really left a lasting impression was when a student approached us after one of our talks at Republic Polytechnic, to thank and show his appreciation for the good work we had been doing.

It was truly heartwarming to know that when made aware, Singapore youths really do care!

Interaction with PWD

The team went to AWWA Dementia Day Care Centre to conduct interaction sessions between the clients at the Centre and our student volunteers.

Although some of our attendees were initially doubtful and fearful about meeting the PWD, it was gratifying to see all that apprehension melted away when the sessions began.

Most, if not all, were pleasantly surprised to see that PWD are just normal people like you and me!

The Memories

Reflection #1 – The Challenges

Sensitivity of PWD

Due to the sensitive nature of the dementia topic, our numerous attempts at having PWD featured in our campaign collaterals were met with many roadblocks. For example, we had initially planned to produce a video featuring students interacting with PWD. Even after reaching out to multiple dementia day care centres, this video idea eventually had to be scrapped because families were unwilling to let their family member with dementia be featured in something that would be screened to mass audiences.

Not a team to be discouraged by setbacks, we ultimately improvised and still managed to produce a video featuring students and their attitudes towards the disease, which went on to achieve significant social media success.

Reflection #2 – The Takeaways

Interacting More with PWD

One of the biggest takeaways is that PWD are just like us ­­– human. Unfortunately, many societal misconceptions about them were painted to be “scary” and unapproachable. This was when we realised that the only way to overcome this stigma was for more people to interact with PWD. To do this, perhaps more partnerships could be made with schools and within the community for more volunteer opportunities at dementia day care centres.

Longer Project Timeline

Due to the short campaign timeline, certain campaign activities had a conflicting schedule with the students’ curriculum. For example, the workshops in dementia day care centres were limited as it coincided with the examination period in schools. Many students indicated their interests in attending these workshops but were unable to. Hence, by having a longer campaign timeline, more workshops could have taken place.

Different Age Groups Reacted Differently

We have noticed the differing reactions of polytechnic and university students towards the campaign’s activities. In general, polytechnic students were extremely receptive of the campaign’s outreach activities and were proactive in seeking more information on dementia.

Different ages of students might have resulted in differing attitudes. This suggests a need for deeper analysis on the different characteristics and attitudes of polytechnic and university students respectively, such that appropriate communication strategy adjustments may be made to further enhance message receptivity.