The Sharing History through Active Reminiscence and Photo-imagery study (SHARP) study came to Seattle after Dr. Raina Croff, a professor at Oregon Health & Science University, spoke about the study at a virtual dementia-friendly communities conference.
Both cognitive health issues and gentrification disproportionately affect older African Americans. The goal of the SHARP study is to support cognitive health while allowing older adults to reminisce on walks through their changing neighborhoods. The project honors the history of the neighborhood and participants, all while walkers are exercising and talking with others.
Croff lead the original SHARP study in Portland, Oregon, in 2016 and 2017. The 2017 pilot found that the walks decreased blood pressure for 78% of participants and decreased weight for 44%. Half of the participants improved their cognitive function, 67% maintained their cognitive function, and all reported improved mood.
“After we heard her, I think we were all very impressed,” said Marigrace Becker, director of Seattle Memory Hub, about Croff’s talk. “We were just curious about how can we do something like that here in Seattle.”
The Seattle pilot of the study, co-led by Becker and Karen Winston, senior planner in the Aging and Disability Services division of Seattle Human Services, took place in the Central District, based at the Central Area Senior Center. 28 participants walked at least eight of the 12 Seattle study routes.
The SHARP Seattle team held focus groups with Central District community members, and asked about the history of the area. They determined what places and people were significant to the Central District that would be important to highlight, and organized those into themes.
Each walking route centered around one of those themes, taking the SHARP Seattle participants to past and present landmarks. Stopping points, called memory markers, had conversation prompts to encourage the walkers to stop and reflect on the local history and their own history in the area.
For example, one walking route created by Winston, focused on businesses and Black business owners, “That marker for me was… where there used to be a Black pharmacy that I recall walking past on my way to Mount Zion when I was a child,” Winston said.
A popular hair salon and community pillar, DeCharlene, across the street serves as another memory marker on the walk. One of the conversation prompts that got great responses was ‘What hairstyle was popular when you were a child?’ Winston said.
In the SHARP Seattle and Portland studies, walkers’ discussions are recorded to create a virtual oral history of the historically Black neighborhoods.
The Seattle program has been a resounding success. Everyone is excited about continuing the program in Seattle, said Becker, and walkers from last year are hoping for additional routes. While the research portion of SHARP Seattle is completed, the team is working with the Central Area Senior Center to continue offering the program to walkers in the Central District this summer.
“At the kickoff event there was a lot of excitement, but at the celebration event there was even more excitement,” Winston said. “People recalled connecting with people, some that they hadn’t seen for a long time, you know, ‘we grew up next door to each other’, and then they’re reconnecting as adults and sharing these memories together.”
