As thoughts for many move to Christmas lists and New Year resolutions, you may recall reflections past that made you want to develop personally, push your abilities and expand your knowledge. This has been an extraordinary year for family carers and the effects of the pandemic will be a thread within our upcoming Dementia in the Family Context module starting in January 2021 (closing date November 30th 2020). If you have an appetite for more than mince pies, why not take a look?
Module co-leads Tracey Williamson (Dementia Carers Count Professor of Family Care in Dementia) and Teresa Atkinson (Senior Research Fellow) here in the Association for Dementia Studies, are working like elves to make this module attractive to students who want to better understand carers’ needs and experiences, interventions, environmental and societal impacts, including the impact of the pandemic. We are including a close look at relevant concepts including burden, resilience, coping, wellbeing, self and identity. Speakers will talk about how diversity affects carers including LGBTQ+ (Phil Harper) and there’s a presentation and Q&A about intimacy in relationships by June Hennell MBE who has valuable experience to share as a family carer. Dr Shirley Evans will explore technology for family carers and we will have a look at Dementia Meeting Centres and other community support networks for families.
June invites you to:
“Experience real life emotions living in the dementia world. Sex and intimacy is still on the agenda, if you so choose.”
Phil says:
“Families and caregivers, we all know, are incredibly important to a person living with dementia. Families and caregivers of LGBTQ+ people living with dementia often face specific challenges, starting from just being considered as a partner or family of choice. We will explore some of these challenges and be critical of current care provision that so often takes a Heteronormative approach to care and support.”
The module is fully online over 12 weeks with six core online group get-togethers to reinforce the directed and self-directed learning students will be doing each week. There is a non-teaching week and two weeks off over Easter so the module is not too intense. We are making good use of video clips and short recorded presentations and films to make learning more enjoyable. Even assessment is a little bit different with part of the marks being for a peer-reviewed poster as well as a small assignment. There will be several optional online drop-in sessions to support students with settling in, embracing the online technology they will need, and also planning for assessment. The module leaders are very friendly and committed to helping students get the most out of the experience.
If you want to find out more about the module and some of the topics it covers, have a look at this short video clip from Tracey. It does have subtitles, but if you need it a transcript is also available.
For further info contact Tracey on T.Williamson@worc.ac.uk or Teresa Atkinson on T.Atkinson@worc.ac.uk. Alternatively contact the Programme Leader Chris Russell on C.Russell@worc.ac.uk
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