
Goals:
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To create educational and engaging healthcare content through game format.
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Sharing professional healthcare insight to improve health-related experiences.


My dream for this game is to teach and reinforce appropriate care for individuals being treated for Dementia, and to provide some levity to its many manifestations.
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The target audiences for the Herding Cats game are the following, in order:
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Nursing or Nursing Assistant (CNA) students
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Dementia/ Cognition healthcare workers
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Family members of individuals experiencing oncoming stages of dementia.
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The intent of this game as applied specifically to Students, is to assist with the comprehension of didactic lecture, incorporating proper order of care into the subconscious so that clinical (hands-on-site) assignments are more efficient and care is optimized.
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As a nurse of 10 years with the majority of experience in Geriatrics, I have identified a few gaps and impractical habits in the field, that I would like to improve. As menial as some tasks may seem, every step contributes to the experience of quality care, and should not be compromised.
Quality healthcare workers are invaluable because the 'art' of giving care is not instinctive to everyone, nor is the humility that is required to succeed.

The Vision
Accessible and Digestible Healthcare Teachings
The 4-Month Process
October 2022 ~ February 2023
This process started with a dream of an app with gamification, that healthcare workers could play with their coworkers, on their respective phones. They could compete with each other through point systems within an organization, and family members of the patients within Memory Care facilities could play and learn as well. Checkpoints in the game would reveal insider tips and scientific findings related to Dementia, which would encourage engagement, learning, humility, and increased and unconventional collaboration (cross-departmental, professional and client).
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As frequently occurs, creative and punny images flooded my brain, and I decided to apply the commonly-associated term "Dementia work is like herding cats" into a title and design concept. Memory Care work can be desensitizing and even dehumanizing after a while, so this analogy is especially relevant, and assists with the fun factor. Using cats in lieu of cartoon humans maintains a perfect degree of abstract correlation. These events and images are directly related to Memory Care, but their designs project an appealing version of the actual scenarios that occur, which have far more serious consequence.
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Once I opened the Pandora's box of creative cat images, it was onto the content and interviews. The content for this game came incredibly easy, since this field is so familiar. I conducted a series of interviews, to satisfy the collaborative aspects required of a Capstone project, and I chose individuals both inside and outside of my professional and personal circles. I have several friends that have either worked in Dementia Care for many years, or have cared for a family member with Dementia for several years. These individuals' insight was precious to me. Within my college, I interviewed several instructors within the Health, Gaming, Interactive Media, and Design fields of study. Their input helped me to approach the 'next steps' of the game after production, which I intend to pursue- provided I have the spoons after my BAS program.

Herding Cats Results
Feedback from playing Herding Cats has been mostly positive, with overall knowledge gained reported in "Policy and Procedure of Memory Care Facilities". This being one of my primary goals, I am very satisfied.
Feedback from playing Herding Cats has included requests for a separate, concise 'Instructions' section in the booklet, for individuals to reference after reading to completion. I have responded to requests through the FAQ section of this site, to address the feedback given. Unfortunately, of the mere 24 respondents, most individuals did not complete the post-game assessment, rendering the feedback insufficient to make changes nor to determine a learning curve.

I was very surprised by the consistency of answers despite the various experiences of the players. It seems that I underestimated the general public in terms of knowledge about causes and sensory changes in patients experiencing dementia. This was nice to see! This suggests that either the general public is receiving better education about Dementia by their own means, or that our Healthcare-administered Education is working. I was not surprised that several people had difficulty with theory of care questions during the pre-game assessment.
All in all, I feel this was a great learning opportunity that could be expanded upon in the future!


