Participant story: Paul and Thea
In this blog post we explore the story of Paul a resident who took part in all the interviews and activities during the project. He really appreciated and enjoyed the creative activities, using them as ways to interact socially with other residents. We also touch on the care staff’s (Thea) use of the activities in Culture Box and her enthusiasm for the project.
The story has been anonymised and pseudonyms are used.
In all three interviews, Paul expressed a lot of interest in the creative activities. He told Julian that he enjoyed the process of “creatively expressing yourself and putting yourself onto paper.” The creative activities, particularly the colouring-in, gave him a sense of satisfaction:
“That was very satisfying. Seeing it sort of meeting what I wanted at the end of the day. Very, very satisfying. Like feelings of a task completed well?” (T2)
Although he wasn’t very confident about his artistic and creative abilities: “I'm not exactly the world's, world's best person to, to sort of show, show off my skills, you know, once, once I've done it a few times”, he still gave all the activities a go as it offered him a chance to practice and hone his skills through repetition. Fundamentally, he enjoyed the creative process of experimentation:
“I enjoy the … experiment here and there. It’s interesting just to play around […] I enjoy the … experiment here and there. It’s interesting just to play around” (T3)
There was a clear playfulness and ease in his approach. In the second interview (T3) he spoke about the fun they had with the ‘Let’s Chat’ booklet provided in one of the boxes. Thea prompted Paul by saying that “they really, really loved it. The questions are a bit you know I can say happy questions, funny questions, reminiscing questions.”
This activity was highly effective in getting a conversation going and provided some playful responses in the interview. Paul told Julian that they were just “chatting away”, and some of the answers “were a bit stupid”. Again, Paul enjoyed the process of playing along with the game, being involved in an activity with others, and was open to experimentation or ‘going with the flow’.
The activities offered Paul a chance to socialise, debate, and reminisce. He mentioned that the creative activities brought back memories of doing art in school. Alongside this, the activities provided a talking point amongst himself and the other residents. He even stated that he wasn’t afraid of a difference in opinion, and was ready to debate other residents over issues that arose from the activities:
“Yeah, I feel more social. And, you know, I can have a chat with somebody about anything. […] I'll just put over my point of view and wait for them to come back with what they have to say. And if I if I particularly don't like it, then I will have an argument with them.” (T2)
This sentiment was echoed by the care staff worker, Thea, who saw the wider applicability of the activities and started sharing them more widely within the home to other care staff and residents who were not part of the project:
“I am doing photocopies of this and I just share in the lounges where the carers can do with their residence because you can't be in the same time in all residents. […] If at any time so colouring like that, I just share to the other residents and their carers just get to have a look, and work with them. So yeah, but it's very helpful, in my opinion.” (T2)
Generally, Thea was very enthusiastic about the project and her role within it:
“I love working with them. The activities it’s what suit in my character. And sharing with them everything, activities, a lot, a lot of stuff” (T3)
However, after some experimentation of her own, Thea told Julian that she preferred to do the more challenging projects one-on-one with the residents:
“When it’s about the projects I prefer one to one. Because when they are together they get distracted. So they need, yes they need the quiet […] But for Paul and for the residents that are in the project it’s better one to one. And that helps a lot because they can concentrate. They are not getting distracted from the other noises or from you know coming and going in the lounge a lot of people. Here we are in the quiet lounge.” (T3)
She also spoke about carefully adapting each activity or project to the resident’s capabilities and interests:
“Some of them as I said are difficult for them. But still they have a choice. So you ask them what about this and they have a go.” (T3)
She was sensitive to their emotional states during the activities, pausing and adapting activities during their one-to-one time if she saw that they were struggling:
“When they squeeze their brain after they get a bit frustrated because they think oh, why I don’t know this. So that moment I leave it. So I said okay we … I don’t want to put a pressure because they feel that why am I not able to do this” (T3)
“Some of them, one or two which I think that it’s a bit difficult and I see that oh they are struggling I just … and go to another one so for sing-a-long for example […] They all so you have a choice and they can choose what they like when they like. You just have to see their reaction an just to take action.” (T3)
The less complex activities, such as the colouring pages, were done as a group. Thea even made activity into a competition – offering prizes for the best colouring:
“So colouring competition for example I put four or five residents. They do the colouring and after we show to the others and say which one is the best you think. So this and that. Oh this and that yes, we put a prize for example for the best colouring. And that gives them a motivation. For example next time I’m going to do it a bit better. You have to try. It’s not going to work but you have to try.” (T3)
Seemingly, motivating the residents was important to her. She clearly aimed to get them actively engaged and focused on the task at hand so that they could gain a sense of satisfaction through developing their creative skills. She spoke about the relaxing and calming nature of the activities, particularly the ones that involved multiple senses:
“It is relaxing very much when they paint, when they colour, they concentrate. […] he sensory, what I told you is really nice, because these things and you know, these are sponges for example, it’s a nice one and painting with the parsley one was very good, they did it altogether and was amazing, because they concentrate. They like this kind of thing.” (T4)
She also told Julian about the joy and enjoyment that was present in these sessions:
“A lot of laughs coming. With snowman activities like that so they have to create something. They created was a bit funny because one put the eye up and one the eye down and after they were looking oh look. And after they had to correct it so that’s something good as well. What can I say, they love it.” (T3)
In the last interview, she reflected a lot on the positive effects that the activities were having on the residents in the home. They brought life and animation to the home, providing a catalyst for social interaction and fun:
“when they are alone or when they are, you know, in their rooms, they just quiet, you think that these people don’t at all interact but when you bring them on the table, memories, some of the memories are coming, not all of them, but some. […] you can see the difference in their faces. So, we wish we can do this every day, but I think it works in my opinion.”
Overall, Paul was positive about the project, stating that it had provided activities and ideas that were “absolutely brand new” to him, he told Julian that he had been surprised as there was an “awful lot of stuff there which wasn’t what I would normally expect”.