Thriving Together Symposium

This week we hand over to Gemma Moore, one of the Association for Dementia Studies PhD students to hear about their recent experiences at a symposium. Over to you Gemma…

Hello, my name is Gemma Moore and I am currently researching how people living with dementia can experience mark making in Meeting Centres. My website can be found here and my Linked in blog here.

Recently, I was accepted to participate in the Thriving Together Symposium – A symposium discussing ideas and experiences of couple hood, arts participation, and dementia. The event was hosted at The University of Sheffield and there was about 50-100 people in attendance (online and in person over the two days).

It was such a fantastic experience because I was able to represent the Association for Dementia Studies, University of Worcester at the conference.

When I came across the callout to submit an abstract, I was fascinated by how many ideas of the symposium were relevant to my research study which is exploring: how can people living with dementia experience mark making in Meeting Centres? I have previously completed some work already in this area, which you can learn more about here. Visual responses created from this body of work have also been exhibited widely and gained national attention including an exhibition titled Marginalised Represented (2023) which you can find out more about here.

I was able to engage with academics, artists, organisations, carers and people with lived experience of dementia who were interested in learning more about how others have approached using the arts as a successful research method, as a tool to better understand couple hood, arts participation, and dementia.

There was a wide variety of speakers from all over the world representing various creative organisations who work with people living with dementia in different capacities. One organisation I was excited by was led by Dr Katey Warren at the University of Edinburgh and the talk was titled Evaluating the arts in dementia care: What is the role of meaning-making? I found this talk particularly interesting because I am part of the research group’s 2-year co-production group, find out more about this here.

I was also able to learn more about how others have previously or plan to approach embodied research practices.

I had some interesting discussions with academics around Meeting Centres, their origin and what creative ‘activities’ are pursued in these spaces. I also referenced the importance of the original Heritage Pathfinders project that I was involved in which helped to contextualise my PhD journey and mark making.

I found the conference beneficial because not only am I learning about how other PhD students are approaching their studies and are processing their results, but also how others are adopting creative approaches to research, which is what I am interested in, as my background is in Fine Art.

In result of the conference, it has inspired me to think deeper into how the practices of music and art are interlined through the ideas of movement and gesture.

Thanks Gemma, it sounds like you had a great experience at the conference.

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

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too.

Busy times in May

It’s not like we sit around twiddling our thumbs at other times, but Dementia Action Week in May is looking particularly busy for us.

To start with, Age UK Herefordshire & Worcestershire and The Hive, Worcester are hosting a series of events and activities, and we’re part of three sessions.

On Monday 13^th May Thomas Morton will be talking about ‘Doing Things with Dementia: Exploring Support to Keep People Connected’. Dementia research in the news is nearly always about finding a cure, but just as important is how we can support the nearly 1 million people (and growing) who are living with dementia right now. While a diagnosis of dementia is life changing, people can still live full and active lives with the condition – but support in the community needs to be better. Thomas will talk about the work we do to improve this situation, including initiatives like Meeting Centres that aim to connect people to their communities and each other. He will talk about what Meeting Centres are, who can go and what people do there, as well as the wider research that the Association for Dementia Studies does – and opportunities for people to get involved!

You can attend the session for free but need to book a place here.

On Tuesday 14^th May Dr Chris Russell will be part of a ‘Behind the Cover’ session with his co-editors of the ‘Leisure and Everyday Life with Dementia’ book. The book examines leisure in the everyday lives of people living with dementia and challenges readers to consider the role of leisure activities beyond their potential for therapeutic benefit. Dr Russell leads the Postgraduate Certificate in Person-Centred Dementia Studies, is the Patient and Public Involvement Lead for the ‘Get Real with Meeting Centres’ research project, and a Dementia Knowledge Exchange Peer Reviewer with the World Health Organization. He also runs a popular ‘Championing Physical Activity for People Affected by Dementia‘ course.

Again, places for the session are free but must be booked.

Our final talk at The Hive is also on Tuesday 14th May and is looking at ‘Dementia and the physical environment: what improvements can we make?’ In this session, Teresa Atkinson will be looking at how dementia and the physical environment interact. You’ll learn about some of the symptoms of dementia and the impact these can have, before exploring how dementia friendly design can help. The session will cover the principles of dementia friendly environments, helping you to be more aware of your surroundings, before focusing on changes that can be made within the home and also within the garden. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions and get information about useful resources. 

To book your free place use this link.

Our Meeting Centre family blanket will also be on display so if you haven’t seen it yet this could be a great opportunity.

If that wasn’t enough, we’re also part of the 2024 Pint of Science events in Worcester which takes place each evening from Monday 13^th to Wednesday 15^th May. Organised by the University of Worcester’s Doctoral School, the Pint of Science festival has academics providing talks on a wide variety of topics.

Thomas Morton will be presenting on 13^th May as part of a session on ‘Doing Health Research Differently’. If you missed his talk earlier in the day at The Hive, this is a second chance as he will be covering many of the same talking points. Tickets for each Pint of Science session are £5 and can be booked via their website.

Still want more? Maybe you’re not based in Worcester and are feeling a bit left out? Well, you’re in luck. On 17^th May (12 noon to 1pm), we will be hosting an online webinar that anyone can join! The webinar will be about ‘Past and Future of the Meeting Centre Support Programme in a contrasting economic context’ and we’re delighted that Sladana Pavkovic will be presenting. Sladana is from the University of Tasmania, and will delve into the Australian Meeting Centre Support Programme (MCSP), tracing its trajectory from pilot project to the establishment of two centres and subsequent challenges. She will discuss the evolving perspectives on revitalizing and adapting the MCSP model in a high-income Australian context, and the possibility to implement the program in a low-income setting such as Serbia.

Sladana is a third year PhD candidate in Dementia Studies at the Wicking Dementia Centre, University of Tasmania. Since 2020 and up to the present day, she has also taken the role of a part-time lecturer at the Wicking Centre. Since 2012 she has functioned as a “tele-care partner” and educator for her family residing in Serbia. Her primary aim has been to provide them with support and guidance in coping with her mother’s dementia. She has been involved in her care journey from the first onset of her symptoms, through the diagnostic process, active life with dementia, all the way to palliative care and her death in September 2023.

You can join the webinar using this link.

Phew! I think that’s more than enough for us to be getting on with, but who knows, we may find something extra to do that week!

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

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too. 

Alumni celebration event

Earlier this month we were delighted to welcome back some of the alumni from our Postgraduate Certificate in Person-Centred Dementia Studies to help us celebrate a wonderful milestone, the course has been running successfully for five years! Although the course is fully-online we decided to make the celebration event hybrid to enable some of the former students to meet in person – possibly for the first time! It was also great to see Dr Izzie Latham, one of our former Module Leads who has since moved on to pastures new, and our current External Examiner Dr Ian Davies-Abbott, but we were sad that a couple of other current and former colleagues weren’t able to join us for various reasons.

Everyone was welcomed to the event by Course Lead Dr Chris Russell who set the scene for the day and gave an update on the state of the field of dementia studies, covering some of the key topics that have arisen recently and highlighting new reports and resources that our former students might find interesting. He concluded his section by drawing attention to some of the achievements – both academic and extracurricular – of our students, including winning The Hennell Award, taking part in a 100km challenge and presenting their own research at a national conference.

This took us nicely into a session on ‘alumni reflections’ where students were encouraged to share how they have used their learning in practice since completing their studies. Facilitated by Nicola Jacobson-Wright, this session also formed part of a research project that Nicola is currently undertaking on ‘Exploring the impact of research based online pedagogy on dementia care practice’. We had two focus groups in the room and a third one for the online attendees to consider a series of questions posed by Nicola, and we got to hear loads of amazing examples of how our students are putting their learning into practice. Thank you to everyone for being so involved in this session and we look forward to seeing Nicola’s findings in due course.

After lunch, we switched from looking back to looking ahead as we welcomed Dr Shirley Evans, Director of the Association for Dementia Studies, to talk about plans for expanding our offering to become a Masters course and get feedback from the group regarding what they would like from a Masters. This will hopefully help us to develop a course that meets the needs of our students, and maybe we’ll even get some of our PGCert alumni coming back to continue their studies with us…

In the final formal part of the event, Izzie got everyone thinking about what they wish they’d known before starting their studies, and any advice or top tips they wanted to share with new students or those considering starting the PGCert. We had loads of great comments, so once we’ve had a chance to collate them we might be able to share them more widely.

At this point in the day we sadly had to say goodbye to our online attendees before concluding the event with a celebration cake (virtual cake doesn’t work very well!). We also had a chance to grab a group photo with our alumni before everyone headed off. It looked like some new connections were made between students and there was a lot of networking taking place, so who knows what our amazing students will go on to do next!

Course Lead Chris Russell, reflected:

“Everyone in our team is so proud of what the students on the course achieve. Person-centredness runs through their veins! It was such a great pleasure for us to welcome the alumni to the university, to catch up and look ahead to future success together!”  

Thanks to everyone for being part of our celebrations and we look forward to keeping in touch in the future.

If you’re considering starting your studies but have a few questions, why not be part of our online open evening which is taking place 3.30-6.00pm on 29^th April. To book a slot at the open evening, please contact Chris via dementia@worc.ac.uk

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

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too. 

The launch of Meeting Centres Scotland

This week we hear from Dr Shirley Evans, Director of the Association for Dementia Studies, who reflects on her trip to Dundee for the launch of Meeting Centres Scotland on the 25^th March 2024. Over to you Shirley…

A rainy Sunday was spent travelling up to Dundee  from the Welsh Borders for the much anticipated launch of Meeting Centres Scotland. Such a journey involved four trains but it all worked like clockwork and the journey was super-productive. The Premier Inn at which I overnighted is located by the River Tay and only five minutes from the modern and stylish Dundee Station. The short walk involved passing the V & A Dundee and Discovery Point and RRS Discovery. What a shame I was travelling back the following day.

It is amazing to reflect on how Meeting Centres have developed in Scotland since an email from Graham Galloway, then of Kirrie Connections and now Chief Executive Officer of Meeting Centres Scotland, came into our inbox late one Friday evening in November 2017. Graham said that he had been reading about Meeting Centres and that it might fit in with their developments at Kirrie Connection and could he have “a wee chat please?” The rest, as they say, is history.

A short time-line involves Emeritus Professor Dawn Brooker and me travelling up to Kirriemuir for the information and planning group meeting in May 2018. This was followed by Graham and his team visiting Droitwich Spa, Leominster and Powys Meeting Centres in the August on a fact finding mission. Kirrie Connections Meeting Centre opened on the 14th May 2019 and we attended the official launch of Kirrie Connections Meeting Centre in August 2019. The evolution of Meeting Centres in Scotland is documented in our blog dated 3rd March 2022. So only two years ago but much as happened since then, not least the one Meeting Centre becoming 22 with another eight in the pipeline.

The launch of Meeting Centres Scotland was held at the Mal Masion Hotel (other hotels in Dundee are available) and was attended by around 90 people including a significant number of people affected by dementia. This evidenced the Meeting Centres Scotland policy of a third people living with dementia, a third carers and a third other interested parties/stakeholders. The purpose of Meeting Centres Scotland is to support the development and growth of dementia Meeting Centres. They believe in providing innovative and person-centred care for individuals living with dementia and their families. The organisation will serve as a central hub for resources guidance and collaboration for existing and emerging Meeting Centres. They will do this through guidance and training; networking and collaboration; advocacy and awareness and research and evaluation.

It really was a day of celebration and it was wonderful to see ‘old’ friends such as those from Striving Towards a New Day (STAND) including Ruth McCabe seen below sporting their purple uniform. STAND produce some excellent and free resources and have written and recorded an album.

Our very own Dawn Brooker, who is President of Meeting Centres Scotland, was one of the speakers in the morning session joining us online and captured much of the thinking in the room:

Meeting Centres aren’t rocket science… It’s not a lack of evidence. It a lack of funding

Professor Dawn Brooker MBE

And Dawn reminded us that Scotland is the first place, outside of the Netherlands, that has Meeting Centres embedded in their National Dementia Strategy.

Jan Beattie of the Scottish Government Dementia Policy Unit spoke about timing being everything and that Meeting Centres bring something valuable, and stressed the importance of an international evidence base – that this is something really unique and brings reassurance with it.

Other speakers included: Marie Todd, Scottish Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport who joined us online; Geraldine Campbell of the Scottish Government Dementia Policy Unit speaking with Jan Beattie; Katherine Crawford Chief Executive Officer of Age Scotland speaking about the importance of partnership working; Irene Donaldson speaking about the importance of coproduction in Meeting Centres and Graham Galloway and Jim Campbell presenting on the Meeting Centres Scotland website and the online academy just before Ron Coleman’s closing remarks ahead of lunch. Ron emphasised that the principle of a third, a third, a third should not be an aspiration, it should be the reality.

It is easy to have aspirations. If we put it in place we can prove not only that it might work but that it does work

Ron Coleman

A highlight of the morning was a preview of the Meeting Centre documentary. There is more about the making of this film in our blog from last year.

In the afternoon we were treated to a brilliant workshop led by Willy Gilder – ‘My Dream Meeting Centre.’ This was a great workshop where we looked at what is core to a Meeting Centre, what would be nice to have and what is our dream. There is more about this on the Meeting Centres Scotland blog.

The event was hugely inspirational to those of us who are thinking about a Meeting Centres England ‘group’ and Graham and Ron will be speaking about their experience to interested parties from England on the 19th April 2024.

I don’t think I could put it better than Jan Beattie who earlier had said, “Meeting Centres are alive and clearly thriving.”

Thanks Shirley, it sounds like an amazing event. To keep up to date with the work of Meeting Centres Scotland you can find them on Twitter/X at @ScottishMCN. We also try to share their posts via the main Meeting Centre account @MeetingCentres   

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

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too.

Looking forward to looking back

This week we hear from Dr Chris Russell about an exciting event we’ve got coming up soon. Over to you Chris…

Time flies when you’re having fun, and time has certainly shot by since 2019 because, in September, the fully online course we offer, the Postgraduate Certificate in Person-Centred Dementia Studies, will be five years old! To celebrate this, in April, we’re holding an event for alumni from the course.

What tremendous students we have worked alongside over those years; drawn from health, social care and social work, housing, advocacy, and leisure settings (and many more, we’ve even had the great pleasure of working with an opera singer!). It is one of the most rewarding things about working in education, having the opportunity to support individuals realise their goals and develop their passion for practice, particularly when a priority for the course is to enable students to apply their knowledge to lead positive change for people affected by dementia. Over one hundred students have enrolled since the course opened its virtual doors, so you can imagine the sense of anticipation as we look forward to welcoming so many back.

What will await our amazing alumni in April? Well we don’t want to give too much away, but there is a strong suggestion that cake will be on offer… Our gathering will also provide the opportunity to take stock on the contemporary context of dementia. It will be a chance to reflect from the position of each of our attendees on the priorities and challenges that exist within our field. We will also be keen to find out more about how alumni have utilised their learning from the course, and the impact it has had. Then we might do a bit of future gazing, looking ahead together to see what educational opportunities could be put in place to meet the ongoing needs and priorities of our current, former and future students.  

It is a fabulous feeling that the Postgraduate Certificate in Person-Centred Dementia Studies is approaching its fifth birthday. The chance to meet so many of those who have shone throughout that time is something we are all looking forward to. People matter most in the context of dementia and we would struggle to think of a more wonderful group of people with whom to gather, celebrate and look ahead!

Thanks Chris, it sounds like it should be a great event! If your interest in the Postgraduate Certificate has been piqued by this, Chris is hosting an online open evening 3.30-6.00pm on 29^th April, which is a great opportunity for prospective students to ask questions and find out a bit more about the course. To book a slot at the open evening, please contact Chris via dementia@worc.ac.uk

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

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too. 

Crossing the Line – second workshop

Last week the second in-person workshop took place as part of the Crossing the Line project which is looking to develop resources to support family carers providing personal care to a person living with dementia. The first workshop in January was such a great day with lots of input and insight, and the second workshop did not disappoint either.

Professor Tracey Williamson welcomed everyone to the event before inviting Roy Dibble, one of our experts by experience, to talk to the group. Roy set the scene for the day by sharing his story of caring for his wife Ros who is living with Posterior Cortical Atrophy. It was enlightening to hear some of the challenges Roy faced, not just in terms of providing personal care, but also changing dynamics within his relationship with Ros and taking on other responsibilities within the home. We also had a lovely chance to hear about Ros and some of the amazing things she achieved in her life, reminding us of the person behind the dementia.

Following Roy, Dr Shirley Evans provided a brief overview of the Crossing the Line project as a reminder for people who weren’t able to attend the previous workshop, before handing over to Thomas Morton to provide more information about some of the analysis that’s been carried out so far on survey and interview data. As the quantitative survey results had been covered to some extent in the first workshop Thomas just highlighted a few headline results, such as receiving responses from right across the UK.

Thomas also talked about Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA, see the image below), a type of in-depth analysis being used with four interview transcripts and thematic analysis which is being applied across all 28 transcripts. This led nicely into a group activity (it’s almost like we planned it!!) looking at the emerging themes. Each table was encouraged to comment on whether the themes – and the language used – made sense and resonated with their experiences, and to suggest how to describe each theme.

After a brief break, Emeritus Professor Dawn Brooker MBE ran a session focusing on the ‘Really Handy Carers Handbook’ which is currently being developed. The handbook has come a long way since the last workshop, mainly thanks to input from our workshop attendees who have been involved in writing some of the content. It is anticipated that the handbook will have three main sections:

1. Setting the scene
2. A-Z of general issues that impact on personal care in dementia
3. Specific areas of personal care

A group activity looked at some of the existing content from sections 2 and 3 to get feedback on it, help rewrite things that don’t make sense, and identify areas that are missing. It also provided and opportunity to invite volunteers to write any remaining sections.

Kicking off the afternoon session was one of our PhD students Diane Bushell who shared her experiences of providing personal care for her mum, with a particular focus on various aspects of going to the loo. Di offered lots of great insight and useful suggestions and strategies about what helped her and her mum, and got everyone thinking about some of the challenges people encounter.

This fed into a group activity where one of the handbook topics being considered from section 3 was help with toilet activities. There were lots of good discussions going on and some great feedback to help us further develop the handbook with real, practical advice.

The workshop concluded with Tracey looking at our priorities for developing resources before the end of the project, getting the group to vote on what format(s) we should focus on initially (leaflets, video clips and web pages were the winners). We also had some great offers to help us test those resources and get feedback on them before they are finalised.

Thank you to everyone for being part of the workshop and sharing your thoughts and experiences with us so generously. There’s one more face to face workshop planned for May, and we’ve also held two shorter online sessions for people who were unable to attend in person.

Full steam ahead until the end of the project!

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

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too. 

Crossing the Line workshop

On 29^th January we brought together around 20 people to take part in the first of three Crossing the Line co-production workshops to help us translate our study findings into free resources for family carers and professionals. Following a welcome from Professor Tracey Williamson we had an introduction to the Crossing the Line project from Sue Briggs, a PPI (Patient and Public Involvement) representative who is also an expert by experience. Sue very generously shared her experience of caring for her husband and why being involved in the project was important to her. It was a powerful way to start the day and highlighted some of the issues that we would go on to discuss throughout the workshop, as well as the importance of the project itself.

For those who may not know, the Crossing the Line project aims to gain a deep understanding of the experiences of family carers relating to their provision of personal care to people living with dementia. Dr Shirley Evans helped to set the scene for the day by reminding the group of the aims of the project and how the research had been progressing.

Sue and Shirley presenting

Next up, Thomas Morton and Faith Frost gave an overview of the findings so far, based on nearly 300 survey responses and 28 interviews with family carers. The amount, and depth, of the information gathered through these methods was incredible and has given the project team a lot to explore and investigate. One interesting point to note from the initial findings was that carers have no time and energy to seek out help or information, let alone engage with it, which is concerning as the onus is often on carers to be proactive rather than support being offered. This was a key point for the research team to take on board as it will influence the project outputs and the need to make them accessible, practical and easy to use.

Going through some of the emerging themes initiated some good discussions within the group, helping us to capture additional perspectives and points to feed into the findings. It was also a useful way to get us all on the same page and starting to think about some of the challenges – and also positives – arising from providing personal care. Some of the overarching areas being considered included:

• Types of personal care
• How prepared people felt to provide personal care
• Strategies to help do personal care
• The emotional toll and coping
• Quality of support from care services

To think about the findings in more detail the group split into separate tables, where everyone had the space to reflect on and add to what had been presented so far. Judging by the amount of conversation that took place, the findings struck a chord with the group.

Faith and Thomas

Following a break for lunch, Emeritus Professor Dawn Brooker MBE led a session to consider how the research can get the findings into practice and actually make a difference to carers and the people they support. Two main areas to think about were the content and the format of possible resources, so these were discussed separately.

First up, content. Using a draft document as a starting point, table discussions helped to clarify the sorts of topics that need to be covered in the resources and in what style, for example the tone and language used. It looks like there won’t be any shying away from tricky topics!

Dawn leading group activities

After some great discussion it was time to focus on the format of the resources for different audiences. It was clear that in order to make a difference any resources need to be easily accessible and available to as many people as possible. Keeping the resources simple, practical and in both web-based and paper-based format was key, as was exploring avenues for dissemination such as through professionals, via organisation websites, through local carer groups, and via social media. With that in mind, if you would like us to let you know how to access the resources (when they’re finished, obviously), please provide some contact details in this short expression of interest form.

Professor Tracey Williamson brought the day to a close by thanking everyone for their time and input to a hugely successful day. There is a wealth of information and ideas for the project team to go through and incorporate into the next stage, before we start planning for the next workshop!

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

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too. 

UK Dementia Congress 2023

A few years ago we wrote a blog about being at UK Dementia Congress (UKDC) from the start to the finish, and this year’s event in Birmingham was similar in that we were presenting from the opening address to the final session. Here’s a brief overview of what we got up to. We didn’t manage to get photos of everything, but hopefully you’ll get a flavour of the event. If you would like more information about any of our presentations or projects, please feel free to get in touch with us on social media or by email (dementia@worc.ac.uk). You can also find our more about our presenters by clicking on their names to go to their staff profiles on our website.

To kick things off, Dr Shirley Evans made the opening address of UKDC, saying how proud the Association for Dementia Studies (ADS) was to be Academic Partner of the event and giving some of our highlights from the past year. She then introduced two of our PhD students who talked briefly about their studies:

• Exploring stigma towards people living with dementia in Extra Care Housing – John Bosco Tumuhairwe
• Exploring re-partnered couples affected by dementia – Jen Edgecombe

Shirley welcoming people to UKDC

The less glamorous side of what we do

A lot of what we post on social media tends to be about out research outputs and resources as well as conference presentations, which can sometimes give a bit of a false impression about what our work involved. While this week we were at UK Dementia Congress (more on that in next week’s blog), we thought we’d let you in on some of the slightly less glamorous aspects of what we do at the Association for Dementia Studies (ADS).

If you see our stand at any conferences you hopefully see a fairly neat and organised display of some of our booklets and leaflets. However, under the table, and sometimes behind our banners, there tends to be a selection of boxes, bags, coats and luggage. You also hopefully don’t see the last-minute panics over slides as we make final changes or check that they’re on the right laptop in the right room!

Our stand at last year’s UKDC, plus the bits you don’t see!

Busy times

With the new academic year underway it feels like the next round of conferences is also gearing up. Here’s a quick overview of what we’ve got coming up over the next few months:

• Probably just ended by the time you read this, but we presented on ‘The social citizenship of people living with dementia’ as part of Dementia UK’s Admiral Nurse Online Forum.
• In mid-October we’ll be well-represented at Alzheimer Europe with two presentations and a poster covering three different projects. One presentation is on ‘Investigating how to sustain community-led dementia support groups long term: The Get Real with Meeting Centres project’ while the other is on ‘Crossing the Line: co-producing resources to support family carers providing personal care’ and the poster covers ‘Meeting Centres in the UK: the UK National Consortium and the impact of national dementia strategies’
• Also in mid-October there will be a presentation on ‘Meeting Centres for people affected by dementia: you never know what’s round the corner’ as part of the Evidence Based Practise Conference: Leaders in their field and inspirational research careers.
• In early November you’ll find us at UK Dementia Congress (UKDC) with a whole variety of presentations, posters and symposiums (symposia?) covering different projects. A few details are still being finalised, so to avoid missing anything out we’re not giving a list here. However, we need your help with one aspect. As reported in a previous blog we had a great response from Meeting Centres getting involved in creating a family blanket. A few squares didn’t quite make it to us in time to be included when the blanket was shown at the Get Real event in mid-July, and several Meeting Centres have opened since then, so we thought we’d see if we can bring a bigger blanket to UKDC. We’ll add in the squares that got a bit delayed, and we’re inviting all Meeting Centres who didn’t or couldn’t get involved last time to send in their contributions. The same rules apply as last time (8 inch x 8 inch squares, up to three per Meeting Centre, all different media welcome), so send them to Jennifer Bray, Association for Dementia Studies, University of Worcester, Freepost WR333, Henwick Grove, Worcester, WR2 6ZA, by the end of October. Don’t forget to say which Meeting Centre they’re from!

We’ve also got around a dozen articles in progress, submitted or accepted but not yet published by various journals, so hopefully we’ll see some progress with those alongside our conference presentations. We’ll do our best to let you know about published articles via our social media channels, so make sure you’re following us on twitter @DementiaStudies and on Facebook @adsuow