Create powerful moments of connection, conversation & recall
A Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) informed activity program for aged care, developed with neuroscience researcher from the University of Michigan.
Overview
Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) can create powerful moments of connection, conversation and recall. The challenge is making it easy enough to use consistently in everyday aged care. That is what we set out to explore.
Resparke worked with neuroscience research experts from the University of Michigan, aged care and dementia specialists, and our aged care partners to develop a series of structured, CST-informed activities that could be delivered by everyday care teams with minimal preparation.
This work was presented at the ARTA National Conference 2026 titled, From Evidence to Engagement: A CST-informed digital activity program for aged care.
Challenges of consistent use of CST in aged care
Staff training
Little time to prepare
Content hard to find quickly
Reliant on specialists
Cognitive Stimulation Therapy is structured around activities that encourage thinking, conversation, recall and social interaction. But in residential aged care, the practical reality can make consistent delivery difficult.
Staff need training. Preparation takes time. Appropriate content can be difficult to find quickly. And delivery can become dependent on specialist staff.
Resparke asked whether we could take the principles behind cognitive stimulation and make them easier for more people to deliver. Not as a replacement for specialist practice or as a replacement for the human relationship at the centre of care, but as a way of extending therapeutic engagement and making structured cognitive activity more accessible in everyday settings.
What we designed around
Our newly developed reminiscing activities guide the facilitator through the session, reducing the cognitive load on the person facilitating the session, so that non-specialist care teams can reliably deliver structured, CST-informed engagement with minimal preparation.
Reminiscence
Using familiar experiences and topics to encourage recall.
Cognitive activation
Prompting residents to think, respond and contribute.
Social interaction
Creating conversation between residents and facilitators.
Sensory stimulation
Using visual and other cues to support recall.
Topics are deliberately familiar and conversational, and include childhood, work and professions, practical everyday experiences as well as culturally and linguistically diverse themes.
What we learnt
The pilot involved 24 aged care sites across two Resparke partner networks, including Whiddon, and our findings speak for themselves.
Residents rated as highly engaged:
8%
Before the session.
83%
During the activity.
92%
At the end of the session.
Low engagement fell from 33% before the session to 0% during and after it.
These are pilot findings rather than a clinical efficacy trial, but they give us an important signal. When cognitive stimulation is made easier to facilitate, it can generate very strong levels of participation and engagement in everyday aged care environments.
Enter your details to get free access for a limited time
Bring the research into your home.
We have made one of the CST-informed activities available for aged care teams to try for free.
Use it with a group of residents and see how they respond, and see what structured cognitive stimulation can look like when the preparation has already been done for you.
