Season’s Greetings from ADS

As it’s nearly Christmas we’ve decided not to have a formal blog this week. Instead we just wanted to say thank you to everyone for your support and interest, and we look forward to starting again in the New Year. We’ll try to keep our blogs varied and interesting, and keep you up to date with what we’re doing on our various projects. We’ve already got a few lined up so watch this space!

Just to give you a bit of an insight, our top three most popular posts have been:

• A trip to The Netherlands – visiting a dementia village
• Namaste Care Intervention UK – Celebration event
• From Amsterdam to Worcester, a dive into research on people with dementia and their family carers in the UK

From Amsterdam to Worcester, a dive into research on people with dementia and their family carers in the UK – part 3

Hi again, for the last time. My time as a research fellow at the Association for Dementia Studies (ADS) is over and I would like to reflect on some of my experiences. To see what my goals were and my reflections when I was about halfway through, read my first and second blog posts.

First of all, what I noticed was that the ADS is a really active research group. A lot is going on, in research and various events. For example, during my time here I went to a Dementia Friendly workshop, where I learned more about environments and their influence on people living with dementia; I attended the HDRC Annual Knowledge and Learning Exchange Event where I heard about a lot of interesting developments in the world of technology in relation to dementia care and I was a part of the family care symposium where the 10th year anniversary of ADS was celebrated. And these do not even include the various projects, workshops and external events that took place while I was here. I learned a lot from my new colleagues here at ADS and I am forever grateful to them for making this fellowship a great success.

Worcester and beyond – ADS in an international context

In one of our previous blog posts we said that although the Association for Dementia Studies is based in Worcester, we do a lot of work in different countries. We thought we’d give a bit more information about what we’ve done over the past 10 years outside of the UK, using our ‘international infographic’ as a starting point.

From Amsterdam to Worcester, a dive into research on people with dementia and their family carers in the UK – part 2

Hi again. In my previous blog I described who I am and why I am currently working for three months with the Association for Dementia Studies at the University of Worcester. I have been here for almost two months already and I would like to share with you some things that I noticed.

But first, I would like to start by mentioning how everybody has made me feel very welcome. Not only my colleagues at the University, but also all the people I met during my visits to care homes, at workshops and courses. That has been a good basis for making me feel comfortable in asking questions and learning about research on and support for people with dementia and their family carers in the UK.

The Citizenship and Dementia International Research Network – 2018 meeting in Berlin

Chris Russell, one of the ADS PhD students, recently travelled to Berlin to participate in the Citizenship and Dementia International Research Network Meeting of 2018. Here he reflects on his trip and provides his personal thoughts on the future.

Citizenship is a complex and diverse phenomenon. At heart it is about how society operates, in particular how individuals within society contribute to its function, and draw rights and protections as a result. It has always appealed to me because citizenship necessitates questioning unfairness and oppression, whilst at the same time exploring how opportunity can be promoted. People with dementia are facing constant injustices, and it is thus unsurprising and essential that notions of citizenship are applied in this context. Understanding has been refined and developed over the last few years with social citizenship emerging as particularly relevant, because it relates to the active participation by people with dementia in their own lives and wider community. Social citizenship is a lens through which I am viewing my PhD study, which explores how people with dementia engage in physical activity and sports post diagnosis, and how this influences their sense of them self.

Arts and dementia in Japan: Report from a research visit

Offered the chance to speak at an arts and dementia symposium in Tokyo, ADS PhD student, Karen Gray, jumped at the chance to combine this with further research visits and conversations.

Japan: A super ageing society

Japan is a ‘super ageing society’, in which a currently reported 4.6 million people live with dementia. This figure is expected to nearly double over the next 10 years. While Japan has much to teach the world about being a society living with dementia (it provided the model for the UK’s Dementia Friends movement, for example), the arts and dementia field there is still very young.