Covering all bases

Here at the Association for Dementia Studies (ADS) we try to share what we’re doing and keep people up to date with our research, education and consultancy activities and the (normally free) resources that are available. To reach as many people as we can, we don’t rely on one option, but we didn’t realise quite what we offer until putting this blog together! Here’s a quick run down of the various ways you can keep in touch with ADS.

• Website – the obvious place to start really. It shows us, our research, education and consultancy, and other useful information and resources.
• Mailing list – you can join the ADS mailing list to get information about things that we think will be of interest to you, but don’t worry, we don’t bombard your inbox with lots of unnecessary messages. One item that we do send out to our mailing list is our newsletter (see next point).
• Newsletter – we’ve got a quarterly newsletter that captures what we’ve been up to recently. You’ll be sent a copy if you’re on our mailing list, but can also find them (including previous issues) by clicking on the link provided.

• Twitter/X – you can find us @DementiaStudies.
• Facebook – just to keep you on your toes we’re @adsuow here!
• Instagram – if this is your preferred platform, have a look for @dementiastudies and give us a follow.
• Threads – this platform still feels a bit quiet so it would be great to have some company over there @dementiastudies.
• LinkedIn – this is our newest account where we might have to be a bit more professional, but we’d still love to connect with you. Click on the link and say hello.
• Blog site – presumably you know about this one if you’re reading this blog post, but did you know that you can subscribe to our blog site so you get an email letting you know when new posts are available? Have a look at the images below to see how.

We’ve also got options for specific topics or projects, such as for the Housing and Dementia Research Consortium (HDRC), and Meeting Centres.

HDRC

• Twitter/X – keep up-to-date with what’s going on at @HousingDementia
• Blog site – as well as blogs, there are also links to publications and useful information on the HDRC blog site

Meeting Centres

• Mailing list – separate from the main ADS mailing list, this list is for people with a particular interest in Meeting Centres. You’ll get sent information about any events or opportunities to get involved in Meeting Centre-related research, as well as the quarterly Meeting Centre newsletter (see next point).
• Newsletter – the newsletter provides an overview of what’s going on with Meeting Centres across the UK and invites contributions from different Meeting Centres to share their stories.

• Twitter/X – find us @MeetingCentres for info about Meeting Centres. We also do our best to share any posts that we see from Meeting Centres across the UK (although if you tag us, it will make it easier!).
• Blog site – blogs specific to Meeting Centres are available on the blog site, along with useful resources that Meeting Centres can access for free. As with the main ADS blog site, you can subscribe to get an email alert when new blog posts are released.

Related to Meeting Centres is the SCIDem/Get Real blog site – where you can catch up on blogs and also access the key booklets and video resources developed as part of those projects.

Phew! Have we missed anything?

Hopefully this list includes something that you can use to stay in touch with us, and we’ll try to share a variety of things in different formats to keep it interesting (no promises!).

A busy start to the year

As January gets properly underway and we settle back into work, it seemed like an appropriate time to take a quick look at some of the research projects that we’re currently in the middle of.

• Crossing the Line – this project looking at family carer experiences of providing personal care to people with dementia is moving into its analysis phase to find out what our survey and interviews are telling us. We’re also planning for a series of three workshops over the next few months to help us convert the findings into resources that will actually make a difference. We’ve got a wealth of information, so there’s a lot going on.
• Meeting Centres – we’re continuing to support people setting up and running Meeting Centres across the UK and have various articles in progress to share our work more widely and continue adding to the Meeting Centre evidence base.
• Get Real with Meeting Centres – although the initial project has finished and the resources are out there for people to access and use, we’ve got some follow-up work going on the see what impact those resources are having in practice. There are also articles about different aspects of the project being written or recently submitted to journals, so hopefully we’ll have some good news to share with you soon!
• DemECH – our project about supporting people living with dementia in extra care housing ended last year, but again we have some follow-up work in progress. To go with the booklets from the original project, we’ve been developing an infographic and a series of videos to help share the findings with different audiences. Once they’re ready and we’ve made them available, we’ll be looking at how people are using them and what impact they’re having.
• Holdenhurst Community Link Worker evaluation – another project with analysis underway as we prepare an interim report. It’s been great to capture the views of tenants and staff to find out how their new Community Link Worker role has been panning out, we’ve just got the challenge now of condensing and summarising everything into a report!

There are also some new projects in the pipeline or about to start, and others that we’re waiting to hear back about, so plenty to keep us busy. This list doesn’t even cover the education and training courses that we’re involved with or the work being done by our fab PhD students who are at different stages in their studies, so as you can see, the blog title is quite appropriate!

An insight into the ADS office!

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

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

Signing off for 2023

The Association for Dementia Studies (ADS) team is starting to head off for the Christmas break, so we thought we’d do a fun final blog for 2023.

We’ve had a festive jigsaw on the go throughout December with 25 pockets of pieces, one for each day until Christmas – a bit like an advent calendar, but with jigsaw pieces instead of chocolate! The jigsaw has been growing gradually, but there are still a few days to go.

We don’t have a Christmas tree in the office, but we’ve done our best to make one of our plants festive by decorating it with handmade decorations including a robin, snowflakes and a Christmassy gnome.

So as we come to the end of the year, here’s a quick look back at what’s been going on with 2023 in 23 images – Link to short video.

See you all again in January and thank you for your support!

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

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

Aromatherapy

This week we had over to Mel Charters from Agewell CIC, who is involved in running Meeting Centres in the Sandwell area. She’s written about her experiences of aromatherapy and its benefits. Over to you Mel…

Christmas is approaching!

And it brings with it the scents and fragrances so evocative of warmth: cakes, mulled wine, pine trees and log fires. At times of festivities and celebrations in all cultures, we share a rich history of the use of herbs, flowers resins and spices and their derivative of both for culinary, medicinal, and therapeutic properties. Fragrance has the power to evoke memories and associations, to support in creating an atmosphere of calm and relaxation, to help uplift the spirits and sharpen awareness.

With such a vast catalogue of traditional usage dating back centuries and many journals, books, and evidence available to use on the use of traditional ‘complementary therapies’ including Aromatherapy, I would advise anyone interested in the subject to access some of the links within this article.

As a definition for this article, the word ‘Aromatherapy’ relates to the use of oils derived from plant-based resins, herbs, spice, and flowers by various means of extraction (steam distillation, pressed for example) yielding an Essential Oil which can then be used therapeutically for environmental fragrance, massage, compresses, inhalation and skin care.

As an Aromatherapist and Holistic Practitioner I have worked with essential oils within one-to-one therapy sessions, workshops, and adult learning environments. I was fortunate to be part of Living Well in Sandwell some years ago, offering Aromatherapy, Mindfulness, and access to Light boxes as part of a three-year Lottery Funded Project, working with people from 6 months to 90 plus! Many people presented with symptoms of stress, manifesting both physically and mentally and achieved good outcomes which we recorded via quantitative and qualitative measures.

Over the years I have witnessed first-hand the positive outcomes of using oils therapeutically and, importantly, supporting people to gain more autonomy over their wellbeing. Some of the most popular oils I have used have been Neroli, Lavender, Black Pepper, and Patchouli. There is an oil called Vetivert (‘the oil of tranquillity’) which has great qualities and is very widely used in the fragrance industry, but it is rather powerful and earthy. Definitely a ‘Marmite’ oil and less is definitely more!

This serves to illustrate that fragrance is very individual, and that responses can be determined by personal preferences but also a particular association.

The use of fragrance on cognition and mood can help support people who may be anxious, agitated or have difficulty sleeping for example. A familiar and welcome fragrance, can help restore equilibrium, working on many levels physiologically, the components of the oils having very specific properties which for example can impact the nervous, digestive, and respiratory systems.

More recently I delivered a small workshop to our members at our two Meeting Centres where we shared oils and some spices which people had to identify and also share what feeling or memories the fragrances provoked. The groups consisted of people living with dementia and carers. The sessions were well received and promoted a lot of discussion around self-care, family memories and traditional remedies including camphor packs, menthol crystal inhalations and clove oil for toothache!

A gentleman with vascular dementia queried whether his diagnosis might affect his sense of smell and fragrance recognition. Orange oil went down very well that day! I think we all needed a lift and a bit of cheer!

By introducing this topic, we can support people by means of therapeutic intervention, whether it be via an interactive workshop, hands on Taster sessions or to help inform and enable their own interest or self-study, to use at home.

On to some Top Tips!

Purchase from reputable suppliers (oils can be adulterated with a cheaper oil). Follow advice on how to use and store correctly (oils are very concentrated and can be harmful if not use correctly).

Permissions are very important around safe touch e.g., hand/shoulder massage. Checking for allergies or aversions to particular fragrances, are part of good practice if introducing into the environment.

Follow your nose!! If an oil calls your name, it may be that you need the particular benefit on any given day! E.g., Orange Oil is good for low mood, Peppermint Oil can help revive when we are flagging, Neroli for stress management, Frankincense to support meditation and the respiratory system.

Research/Evidence Base

Anyone familiar with research methodologies will understand the barriers that can be faced within the area of Complementary Therapies in terms of acceptability of data outside of a clinical context and the limitations within the funding landscape. There is a huge amount of anecdotal evidence of traditional usages and within our current Health Service we offer therapies as part of Oncology Support for example. The Christie Hospital in Manchester has a long history of offering Complementary Therapies to patients as well as contributing to research, development, and training practitioners.

Outcomes are unique to each individual in terms of their response, and other factors influencing the outcomes include the holistic framework of the intervention and the starting point of the individual.

I have listed more scholarly articles available on Pubmed and some sites specifically around Aromatherapy, in addition to information on Getwell UK which was a UK government-funded trial project delivering Complementary Therapy interventions within the community and with the co-operation of GPs in Northern Ireland.

• https://www.aromaweb.com/
• https://www.penny-price.com/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37148590/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24569873/
• https://www.getwelluk.com/
• https://www.getwelluk.com/news_awards_and_publications/getwellukontv/
• https://www.getwelluk.com/about_get_well_uk/our_projects/northern_ireland/
• https://www.getwelluk.com/recommendationstothehealthminister/
• https://www.christie.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/services/complementary-therapy
• https://www.dementiauk.org/information-and-support/living-with-dementia/aromatherapy-and-dementia/

Ok well let’s get cracking on those orange pomanders for Christmas!

For those not familiar, these are oranges studded with cloves and then decorated and dried. They originate from the Elizabethan period when they were carried by the rich to offset the impact of unwashed bodies beneath the finery!

They provide a fabulous warm spices citrus fragrance, and as a bonus clove oil is a powerful anti-bacterial and anti-microbial and the activity itself can be great for groups (bit hard on the thumbs though pressing the cloves in…we are ordering some thumb protectors!)

Thanks for sharing this with us Mel. I don’t know about anyone else but I can practically smell the oranges!

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

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

Keeping in touch

Following a recent office move and doing a lot of networking at UK Dementia Congress, we thought we’d do a short blog this week to remind everyone how we can keep in touch and make sure you’ve got our current details.

Keeping in touch with the Association for Dementia Studies

If you’re not sure who can help you with a query, the easiest way to contact us is using our dementia@worc.ac.uk email address and any enquiries will be forwarded to relevant member of the ADS team. If you’re looking for someone in particular you should be able to find their details on our website.

Swans, plates and juggling – just a normal week

You know the saying about how swans look calm and elegant as they glide along but their legs are paddling furiously under the surface? Well that’s how it can feel at the Association for Dementia Studies (ADS) with lots going on behind the scenes, although occasionally we might seem a bit less serene and a bit more wind-swept! When you stop and think about everything that’s going on at ADS though, it’s perhaps not totally surprising, so this blog is partly about telling the team to take a breath and not to be too hard on themselves as we start the new academic year.

In many ways, the research cycle doesn’t exactly help. You start off with your idea which needs to be turned into a funding bid, but finding the right potential funder isn’t always easy. Writing the bid takes a lot of time and effort, and often requires coordination with different partners and PPI (patient and public involvement) work. Some funding streams can also have short timescales making the whole process quite stressful.

Summer break? Maybe not!

The period June to September is always a bit of an odd time for us. The University feels quiet as there are no students around, but actually for us it’s still quite busy. Unfortunately, it’s also a time when half of the team realise that we haven’t taken enough annual leave and need to use it before the end of August! It means that when we are around it can be even busier! So what have we got going on over the summer months?

Although our January cohort of students has finished, we’re still quite active in terms of our Postgraduate Certificate in Person-Centred Dementia Studies. We’re recruiting for our September modules and there’s an opportunity to talk to the Programme Lead and find out more as part of a virtual open event on 6th July. See our website to book a place. Our module content is also being reviewed, checked, tweaked and updated ahead of the next semester to make sure we’re ready to hit the ground running. We’re also supporting our Postgraduate Award students who are halfway through their double module, even though there is no formal teaching taking place.

May madness

It feels like I say this quite often, but as the Association for Dementia Studies is doing a lot at the moment, we thought it would be useful to take stock and draw breath in this week’s blog. Here’s an overview of what’s going on.

Education and training

Our PGCert students have recently submitted their final assignments so our lecturers are busy marking. Before we know it, we’ll be welcoming a new cohort of students on our September modules! If you would like to be one of them, please have a look at our website or watch our new short video. A reminder to current and former students – you are eligible for the Hennell Award so why not apply!?

The next cohort of the 5-week Meeting Centre online training starts later this month, and this time is being facilitated by Kirrie Connections. If this is too short notice, don’t worry, we’ll be running another cohort in July. Have a look at our website for full details and how to register for either course. We’re also working on developing Meeting Centre training for other audiences, so keep an eye open for further updates.

Focusing on the little things

Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up with trying to make big changes or getting things happening at scale, but that means the little things can get overlooked. In this blog we’re going to celebrate a few small tweaks and changes that have happened recently, which have probably gone unnoticed so far!

• Updating our publications page – on our website we have a page where we share lists of our publications and knowledge exchange activities (if you didn’t know about that page, you do now!). We try to keep the lists updated, but when things are busy it doesn’t always happen as often as we’d like. We’re pleased to say that it’s all back on track now, and every time we update the lists it’s always a nice reminder of what we’ve been doing.
• Expanding our publications page – as well as updating our publications, we’ve added in a new section on that page to focus on resources. A lot of our research projects result in new (and more often than not, free!) resources. While we share these in relevant places on our website, we thought it would be useful to bring them together in one place, so we did!
• Sharing our new Meeting Centre videos – we’re very pleased with the two short videos created as part of the Worcestershire Meeting Centres Community Support Programme and have made sure that as well as sharing them on social media, they are also available on our website. In addition to providing links to them in our new resources section (see above), they are available on our Meeting Centres page.
• Sharing the DemECH booklets – following the recent launch at the House of Lords, links to download the three booklets from our DemECH research have been included in the relevant section on our current research webpage, and before you ask, yes they are also in our new resources section!
• Adding information about our new research project – our ‘Crossing the Line’ project has been added to our current research webpage, so you can find out more about what we’re doing and we’ll keep adding to it as the project progresses.
• Making our Meeting Centre newsletters available – we realised that our Meeting Centre newsletters only get circulated to our Meeting Centre mailing list, when really they should be available more widely. To rectify this, we’ve added a new page on the Meeting Centre blog where we can link to all the newsletters, so if you want to find out what’s been going on feel free to take a look. I’m not sure why we didn’t do this sooner when we already share our ADS newsletters on our ADS blog!
• Sharing Meeting Centre locations – although it’s a bit of a movable feast with new Meeting Centres opening all the time, we’ve added another new page on our Meeting Centre blog site to say where you can find Meeting Centres across the UK. If you run a Meeting Centre and you can’t see yourself on there (or we’ve got your details wrong), please email j.bray@worc.ac.uk and we’ll get it sorted.

So there you go, nothing earth shattering or amazing, but a few minor things that have been going on to hopefully make things a bit easier. These sorts of things tend to be happening behind the scenes all the time, and there are probably many other examples we could have shared. So let’s celebrate the small things every now and again, because they all add up!

A period of change

As usual, there’s a lot going on within the Association for Dementia Studies at the moment, so to help you (and us!) keep track here’s a brief update.

Coming to an end

We’ve got a few projects due to finish in the next couple of months, such as:

• The Herefordshire Dementia Voices (HDV) evaluation, which is looking at the extent to which the HDV project met its intended outcomes of finding and hearing the voices of people affected by dementia. If you’d like to share your views on this project, you don’t have long – our online survey closes very soon so don’t miss out!
• Worcester Life Stories, which comprises two online platforms (Know Your Place and Life Stories Herefordshire and Worcestershire) has been the subject of a few previous blogs, and again you don’t have much time to share your views and feedback with us using the following surveys.
  • Link to Know Your Place Worcester survey
  • Link to Life Stories Herefordshire and Worcestershire survey
• The Get Real with Meeting Centres project is in its final phase of pulling all of our findings together and working out how to present and share them with different audiences. We’re consulting with various stakeholders to make sure we get it right, and have some exciting plans for creating both booklets and videos to explore different ways of making our findings accessible.
• The ‘Embed’ phase of our Meeting Centres work is due to end soon, but have no fear! We’ll be continuing to work on Meeting Centres, primarily focusing on keeping our existing Meeting Centre network going and continuing to support new Meeting Centres to get up and running.
• The DemECH project which has been looking at Supporting People Living with Dementia In Extra Care Housing is in the reporting phase, and we hope to be able to share the outputs with you in the near future.

Beyond research, our September cohort of students on our Postgraduate Certificate in Person-Centred Dementia Studies has recently submitted their final assignments, so best of luck to everyone!