The utility of ‘Ding Ding Lok’ in rehabilitation service for adult persons with intellectual disability: A thematic analysis on reports by service staff

Abstract

This article introduces ‘Ding Ding Lok’ (DDL), a group game especially designed for persons affected by mild-to-moderate intellectual disability and explores its utility in rehabilitation service settings in Hong Kong. Reports from service staff who participated in the pilot project were analysed using thematic analysis. Two key questions were explored: (1) staff members’ perceived benefits of the game for service users and (2) source of enjoyment for staff members in the game process. Results of the thematic analysis generated four themes, including ‘Social Repertoire Expansion’, ‘Exercising Cognitive Abilities’, ‘Leisure & Recreation’ and ‘Personal growth’ for the first question on perceived benefits and five themes including ‘Positive interactions’, ‘Users’ positive feelings’, ‘Increased understanding’, ‘Game design’ and ‘Users’ improvement’ for the second question on source of enjoyment for staff members. On the whole, DDL was perceived to be highly beneficial for the service users and were regarded as very enjoyable to the participating service staff.