Educational materials released by Eisai for understanding dementia

Eisai Co., Ltd. announced that it has created educational materials for understanding dementia and thinking about what one can do for elementary and secondary school students, and has commenced marketing these materials primarily to local governments, educational institutions as well as medical and nursing care professionals from today.

Five types of materials have been created, an educational DVD, textbooks for elementary and secondary school students as well as guides for instructors for each textbook. The DVD is a live action drama that tells the story of a family whose grandmother has dementia, and the contents enable viewers to learn what is dementia, the feelings of someone with dementia, and how to interact with people with dementia. In addition to an outline of the DVD, the textbooks contain basic knowledge on the aging society and dementia, as well as points on how to interact with people with dementia. The textbooks can be used in lessons or group work. The contents of the guides for instructors include model lesson plans, question and answer ideas and reference materials, as well as worksheets that can be used in group work.

Yukimichi Imai MD., PhD., president of the Japanese Society for Dementia Care, Director of Wako Hospital and supervisor for these materials, stated: "he person that begins suffering dementia is the one who is most distressed, and changes in symptoms may occur depending on how their family and friends act. In addition, the number of people with dementia in 2025 is estimated to reach approximately 7 million, affecting one out of every five elderly people aged over 65. However, with the rise of the nuclear family, there are more and more children and students who have few opportunities to interact with people with dementia. We believe that learning about dementia at school and thinking together about the feelings of those with dementia and how to interact with them will be a very important first step in this era of a progressively aging society. I highly endorse Eisai' efforts in creating these educational materials to think about living together with dementia."

Hideki Hayashi, representative corporate officer, Japan Business and CIO, Eisai, commented: "During our work on building communities that co-exist with dementia in collaboration with local governments, medical and nursing care professionals as well as other stakeholders, we recognized the need for dementia education in the classroom, and created educational materials that can be used in lessons such as group work to think about the feelings of people with dementia and how to interact with them, as well as for gaining knowledge on dementia. Through these materials, we hope that children will become concerned about their own grandparents and the state of elderly people in public spaces as a member of the local community, and that this will spark responses such as consulting surrounding adults when they sense something is amiss."

Source: http://www.eisai.com/news/enews201772pdf.pdf