A rose by any other (shorter) name…

We have a habit of using abbreviations and acronyms within our work to make it easier to refer to some of the various projects we work on, but we realise that it can sometimes be confusing for others who may not know what we’re talking about! This blog introduces you to some of our current shorthand terms, providing a bit of extra information to hopefully make things clear.

ADS – A nice easy one to start with. This is us, the Association for Dementia Studies, ably led by Professor Dawn Brooker MBE since we began back in 2009.

CHARM – Care Home Action Researcher-in-residence Model. This is one of our current projects which was impacted by the Covid pandemic but is now back up and running. It aims to support collaborative research between care homes and researchers, and investigate whether having a ‘researcher-in-residence’ helps care homes become more research aware and active. You can find out the latest in a recent blog.

DemECH – Supporting People Living with Dementia in Extra Care Housing. This is our newest research project which only got going in June. It’s going to be using a mixed methods approach to explore how Extra Care Housing can help people to live well with dementia. It was the topic of last week’s blog, so if you missed it now’s a great chance to have a look and catch up.

HDRC – The Housing and Dementia Research Consortium. Not a project, but rather a group of organisations and individuals who are committed to research and knowledge exchange, focusing on ‘what works’ for people living with dementia in housing and care settings. Unsurprisingly, the HDRC is linked to the DemECH project. The HDRC has been hosted by ADS since 2014, and is coordinated by Dr Julie Barrett. As mentioned in a previous blog, the HDRC has it’s own blog site if you want to find out more. Follow @HousingDementia on Twitter.

MC – Meeting Centres

A Meeting Centre is a local resource, operating out of ordinary community buildings, that offers on-going warm and friendly expert support to people with mild to moderate dementia and their families. At the heart of the Meeting Centre is a social club where people meet to have fun, talk to others and get help that focusses on what they need. Meeting Centres are based on sound research evidence on what helps people to cope well in adjusting to living with the symptoms and changes that dementia brings.

These two letters do an awful lot of work, and form part of two other abbreviations:

• UKMCSP – UK Meeting Centres Support Programme. This project started back in 2018, and aims to establish new Meeting Centres across the UK. Momentum is really picking up around Meeting Centres, and things are going pretty well if we do say so ourselves!
• WMCCSP – Worcestershire Meeting Centres Community Support Programme. Worcestershire County Council has provided £540,000 to support the setting up and running of Meeting Centres across Worcestershire. If you’re looking to set up a Meeting Centre and could benefit from up to £60,000 to support you in your first three years, the next round of applications closes at the end of September. Details are available on our website.

There is a separate Meeting Centre blog site, so please have a look to find out more. Follow @MeetingCentres on Twitter.

PGCert – Postgraduate Certificate. We have developed an online Postgraduate Certificate in Person-Centred Dementia Care with a series of modules covering different aspects of dementia. You can also study a module as a standalone course if you don’t want to commit to doing the full PGCert straight away. One of the modules is actually an abbreviation in its own right, as ‘Expert Practice in Delivering Person-Centred Dementia Care’ is a double module which forms a PGAward (Postgraduate Award) in Professional Development.

WLS – Worcester Life Stories. This is one of our current projects but its name doesn’t quite give the whole story as it covers the evaluation of two different online platforms, each with its own abbreviation (obviously!):

• KYPW – Know Your Place Worcester. A map-based platform which allows people to explore their neighbourhood through historic maps, images and linked information, as well as being able to share their own memories and images. If you’ve used the platform, please get involved in our research and share your experiences through this survey.
• LSH&W – Life Stories Herefordshire and Worcestershire. An online platform allowing anyone living in Herefordshire or Worcestershire to create their own digital life story book and share it with key people. Again, we’re looking for feedback from people who have used it, and a separate survey is available.

We hope you found that useful. Next time you’re in touch with us why not use the following card to see if you can get ‘ADS Bingo’… (please note that this is just for fun, and there is no prize for getting us to use all of these abbreviations or acronyms in the same conversation – although I will be VERY impressed!)

Connect with ADS on Twitter @DementiaStudies and on Facebook @adsuow

Social media hashtags to look out for: #CHARMStudy #DemECH #MCSP #DementiaPGCert