Tagged / ADRC

Ageing and Dementia Research Forum – 29th June – Digital Health Coaching DIALOR

Details of the next ADRC ageing and dementia research forum are listed below. The forum is an opportunity for staff and PhD students to get together to chat about research and share experiences in a safe and supportive environment. Specific topics are discussed but there is also time for open discussion to mull over aspects of research such as project ideas and planning, ethical considerations and patient and public involvement.

Date, time, and campus Research areas
29th June 2023

15.00-15.45

BG601, Bournemouth Gateway

Lansdowne Campus

‘Digital health coaching for older people with frailty in Wessex (DIALOR) ’Rachel Christie

If you would like to discuss your research ideas at a future meeting, please email Michelle mheward@bournemouth.ac.uk

We look forward to seeing you there.

Ageing and Dementia Research Centre

Ageing and Dementia Research Forum – 24th November – End of life care

We are holding our second ageing and dementia research forum for those interested in research in this area. The forum is an opportunity to get together to chat about research and share experiences in a safe and supportive environment. Specific topics are discussed but there is also time for open discussion to mull over aspects of research such as project ideas and planning, ethical considerations and patient and public involvement.

The next forum meeting is approaching so if you would like to join us, please email adrc@bournemouth.ac.uk so we can send you the meeting details.

Date, time, and campus Research areas
24th November 2022

15.30-17.00

BG601, Bournemouth Gateway

Lansdowne Campus

Hadeel Alhatamleh ‘End of life care for people with dementia in hospitals’

If you would like to discuss your research ideas at a future meeting, please email Michelle mheward@bournemouth.ac.uk

We look forward to seeing you there.

Ageing and Dementia Research Centre

Join the Mental Health Research Seminar

Are you interested in Mental Health Research and engaging with researchers across Wessex?

Join us for a seminar (6 October 2022) given by Professor Sam Chamberlain, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Southampton and NIHR ARC Wessex Mental Health Research Hub Lead.

He will highlight projects currently supported through the Mental Research Hub, as part of the NIHR ARC Wessex. The Hub aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines and partners throughout the region to plan and conduct research and look at ways to implement findings at the point of care. It also encourages and support new research talent through mentorship, internships, a summer school, and new post-doctoral positions.

This seminar will provide a valuable opportunity to find out more about the Mental Health Research Hub, engage with researchers in Wessex to develop new research and potentially be involved with current projects.

Please sign up asap using this Eventbrite link (venue to be confirmed)

https://nihr-arc-mental-health.eventbrite.co.uk

e-Learning Dementia Education and Learning Through Simulation 2 (e-DEALTS 2) now successfully launched!

 

In line with this Dementia Action Week, the e-Learning Dementia Education and Learning Through Simulation 2 (e-DEALTS 2) programme was launched on 16th May 2022. The launch event was well attended by members caring for those with dementia, health and care staff in contact with people with dementia, hospital and residential care management representatives, researchers and academics.

The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre at Bournemouth University were commissioned by Health Education England to develop the e-DEALTS2 toolkit. The e-DEALTS 2 programme is a simulation-based training programme designed to support trainers to deliver dementia training online to health and social care staff and volunteers who require Tier 2 training (i.e., those who have regular contact with people with dementia, clinical and non-clinical).

The underlying principle of the e-DEALTS2 training is to provide opportunities to understand the lived experience by putting attendees into the shoes of a person with dementia.

Looking forward, we are excited to evaluate the toolkit for future research development. If you would like to be contacted by the Ageing & Dementia Research Centre about the eDEALTS2 and receive any further updates, please complete the Bournemouth University form by visiting: https://forms.office.com/r/H3q5UP7TX1

The eDEALTS2 toolkit is now available on the Health Education England website. To download, please visit https://tinyurl.com/y2228tak

 

(e-DEALTS 2) now successfully launched!

e-Learning Dementia Education and Learning Through Simulation 2 (e-DEALTS 2) now successfully launched!

In line with this Dementia Action Week, the e-Learning Dementia Education and Learning Through Simulation 2 (e-DEALTS 2) programme was launched on 16th May 2022. The launch event was well attended by members caring for those with dementia, health and care staff in contact with people with dementia, hospital and residential care management representatives, researchers and academics.

The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre at Bournemouth University were commissioned by Health Education England to develop the e-DEALTS2 toolkit. The e-DEALTS 2 programme is a simulation-based training programme designed to support trainers to deliver dementia training online to health and social care staff and volunteers who require Tier 2 training (i.e., those who have regular contact with people with dementia, clinical and non-clinical).

The underlying principle of the e-DEALTS2 training is to provide opportunities to understand the lived experience by putting attendees into the shoes of a person with dementia.

Looking forward, we are excited to evaluate the toolkit for future research development. If you would like to be contacted by the Ageing & Dementia Research Centre about the eDEALTS2 and receive any further updates, please complete the Bournemouth University form by visiting: https://forms.office.com/r/H3q5UP7TX1

The eDEALTS2 toolkit is now available on the Health Education England website. To download, please visit https://tinyurl.com/y2228tak

Keep getting lost? Maybe you grew up in a city

I am absolutely delighted to be part of the amazing Sea Hero Quest team. Sea Hero Quest is a game for mobile phones in which users solve navigation tasks. With more than 4 million contributors/players it is one of the largest citizen science projects ever. We  used Sea Hero Quest to analyse navigation performance of several hundred thousand participants. In this Nature paper – which came out today – we showed that people who grew up in rural areas have better spatial navigation skills that those raised in cities.

Follow the links below for more information about the paper and Sea Hero Quest:

NEW PUBLICATION ‘Barriers and enablers to implementing ‘DEALTS2’ simulation-based train-the–trainer dementia training programme

 

Many congratulations to Dr Michelle Heward, Dr Michele Board, Ashley Spriggs, Dina Blagden and Prof Jane Murphy from the ADRC for their new publication ‘Barriers and enablers to implementing ‘DEALTS2’ simulation-based train-the–trainer dementia training programme in hospital settings across England: a qualitative study” in BMC Health Service Research freely available now via this open access link: https://rdcu.be/cxuRO

The team was commissioned by Health Education England (HEE) to develop and evaluate ‘DEALTS 2’, a national simulation-based education toolkit informed by the Humanisation Values Framework, developed at Bournemouth University and based on an experiential learning approach to facilitate positive impacts on practice. This paper reports on qualitative data collected from trainers nationally across England on the barriers and facilitators they faced when implementing the DEALTS2 dementia training toolkit in their employing Trusts.

This builds on other papers about DEALTS2, outlining:

(i)             the impact of the DEALTS2 training on trainer knowledge of dementia and confidence to deliver innovative training approaches: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0260691720315446

(ii)            the protocol for evaluating the impact of this intervention on practice across England: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-psychogeriatrics/article/abs/design-and-evaluation-protocol-for-dealts-2-a-simulationbased-dementia-education-intervention-for-acute-care-settings/0D6D58EB6D24257F6454E6AB0AF69E7D

ADRC Research Seminar – Interactive Digital Narratives for Health

Thank you to Dr Lyle Skains for your very interesting and informative presentation this Wednesday.

Title: Interactive Digital Narratives for Health: Approaches to using storygames as intervention and education  

For anyone who couldn’t make it or would like to recap on the information please email adrc@bournemouth.ac.uk to request a copy of the presentation slides or the recording of the seminar which we can send on to you. 

 Abstract: Interactive digital narratives (IDNs) (a.k.a. digital fiction, storygames, hypertexts, interactive fiction) are an emerging form of engaging storytelling adaptable to many devices, platforms, purposes, and audiences. This talk highlights pilot studies in creating and using IDNs as health and science education-through-entertainment on the Playable Comms project (playablecomms.org). As an interdisciplinary network of projects, Playable Comms combines science and arts research and practice to develop a model for creation of health- & sci-comm IDNs, and evaluates their efficacy, attempting to measure message uptake from outright rejection to holistic adoption engendering associated behavioural change. IDNs can be used in schools, GP waiting rooms, on tablets and smartphones; interactivity significantly increases retention, particularly when incorporated into media that audiences voluntarily and eagerly devote attention to.  

Best wishes

The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre

Interactive Digital Narratives for Health Seminar via Zoom

You are invited to join our lunchtime seminar this Wednesday at 12:30, hosted by the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre, via Zoom.

Title: Interactive Digital Narratives for Health: Approaches to using storygames as intervention and education  

Speaker: Dr Lyle Skains 

Time and date: 16th June @ 12.30pm – 13:30

Abstract: Interactive digital narratives (IDNs) (a.k.a. digital fiction, storygames, hypertexts, interactive fiction) are an emerging form of engaging storytelling adaptable to many devices, platforms, purposes, and audiences. This talk highlights pilot studies in creating and using IDNs as health and science education-through-entertainment on the Playable Comms project (playablecomms.org). As an interdisciplinary network of projects, Playable Comms combines science and arts research and practice to develop a model for creation of health- & sci-comm IDNs, and evaluates their efficacy, attempting to measure message uptake from outright rejection to holistic adoption engendering associated behavioural change. IDNs can be used in schools, GP waiting rooms, on tablets and smartphones; interactivity significantly increases retention, particularly when incorporated into media that audiences voluntarily and eagerly devote attention to.  

Join Zoom Meeting

https://bournemouth-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/86494645871?pwd=QnAxQVVyWjYvSUc5Q3pzSVF3QVRudz09

Meeting ID: 864 9464 5871

Passcode: 7d!kX5LM

Meeting ID: 864 9464 5871

Passcode: 69937258

Find your local number: https://bournemouth-ac-uk.zoom.us/u/kDPhCvAbL

We look forward to seeing you Wednesday.

Best wishes

The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre

Congratulations to Masters Nutrition and Behaviour student Vicki Lawrence  – paper on Covid-19

Congratulations to Masters Nutrition and Behaviour student, Vicki Lawrence, working as a Student Research Assistant with Prof Jane Murphy  and team to undertake a national UK survey of nutritional care pathways from dietitians.  The  work has been undertaken in collaboration with academics and practitioners at Plymouth University, University College London, Imperial College London and Glasgow Royal Infirmary to understand  the delivery of nutrition care pathways for people with COVID-19 infection. The findings have informed the development of  further collaborative work  to understand nutritional care provided by health care professionals and in people with long COVID.

Congratulations!

Reference:

Lawrence V, Hickson M, Weekes CE, Julian A, Frost G, Murphy J. (2021) A UK survey of nutritional care pathways for patients with Covid-19 prior to and post hospital stay. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. First published: 18 March 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.12896

Older People and Malnutrition in the UK today

 

 

 

 

 

Prof Jane Murphy from BU’s Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) was invited to speak at the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPGs) for Ageing and Older People on 10th March 2020. The topic of the session was ‘Older People and Malnutrition in the UK today’.

Chaired by Rachael Maskell, MP, it was attended by public, stakeholders and other MPs. This cross-party forum holds government to account on issues affecting ageing older people.

The online forum addressed the concerns of malnutrition in older people, that has worsened as a result of the pandemic due to the consequences of shielding, lockdown and isolation and people not accessing health and social care services.

Jane spoke on the part research plays in raising awareness of malnutrition across health and social care setting alongside Dianne Jeffery OBE, Chair of the Malnutrition Task Force, Dr Trevor Smith , Chair of BAPEN and Vittoria Romano, Chair of  the British Dietetic Association Older People Specialist group.

Jane shared some good practice examples from her research and tools co-produced with key stakeholders and older people to address the problem – the Patients Association Nutrition Checklist and the Nutrition Wheel (see Malnutrition Task Force website). Also a call to action for:

1) more focus on prevention and early identification of malnutrition in the community

2) people having access to appropriate Primacy Care and Voluntary Sector Organisation support in local communities and

3) prioritising nutritional care across integrated pathway across health and social care as part of new integrated care systems to support recovery.

She also raised the importance of research in the area to respond to the concerns of black and minority ethics communities.

What was clear is that long after we’ve beaten the virus, the NHS, care homes and communities will still be dealing with the consequences of malnutrition unless we take action now!

 

BU Research Matters: ADRC adapt their approach in the time of COVID-19

In today’s blog post, Dr Michelle Heward, explores how the fantastic work of the Ageing & Dementia Research Centre has adapted to enable community engagement during the pandemic. Our older population, especially those who are extremely clinically vulnerable, have risked not being able to participate in shaping our future research owing to the restrictions in place over the last year. This engagement aspect is so important for ensuring research benefits society, and offers the bonus of social interaction for those who are having to isolate! Here Michelle explains how it is done: 

Michelle Heward

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impact on face-to-face interaction. To meet UK Government guidance and stop the spread of the virus, we have been unable to meet up with family, friends, and colleagues in the ways that we are used to. For older people, people with dementia and family carers, this has exacerbated many existing difficulties and problems they face, whilst also further intrenching feelings of loneliness and isolation. Technology has been a saviour for many and has proved invaluable in connecting people with their loved ones. The team from the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) have overcome the barriers by using digital approaches to continue our engagement and expand our networks with members of the public, service users and carers.  We have achieved this by developing a new series of monthly virtual ‘coffee mornings’ hosted on ZOOM.

We have designed each coffee morning to have a different theme/topic that may be pitching new ideas for research or sharing new findings. The group are invited to share their ideas, thoughts and ask questions. Ensuring that older people, people with dementia and family carers remain at the heart of our research activities has been central to the coffee mornings. The sessions have been well attended and the group have really engaged with the research topics and attendees are starting to get to know one another socially – many are returning each month which is fantastic!

So far, the group have contributed to discussions about nutrition with Prof Jane Murphy and wayfinding with Prof Jan Wiener. In the next session they will discuss nursing training in response to COVID-19 with Dr Michele Board. The discussion and questions raised have offered ‘food for thought’ for the presenters and will no doubt help us to shape future study ideas and generate new ideas for research.  In fact, one of the key challenges has been keeping within the allocated time for the session as there has been so much discussion!

The sessions are facilitated by Dr Michelle Heward (Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and ADRC Service User and Carer Involvement Lead) and Caroline Jones (ADRC Administrator). On reflection it has been beneficial to have two facilitators; one to lead the session and the other to be on hand to help with IT issues and check the chat messages. We also offer support for people who have had little or no experience of using ZOOM beforehand to make sure they are comfortable using the technology and its functions prior to attending a session.

We acknowledge that the idea for the virtual coffee morning was drawn through our collaborative working with the Wessex Public Involvement Network (PIN), who shared their successes and experiences of developing a similar engagement model with us. This work has also been undertaken in consultation with BU Public Involvement in Education and Research partnership to ensure we are following current policy/procedures.

Although we recognise that not everyone is able to access the internet from home, we will continue to offer these sessions for the foreseeable future as they provide an alternative to those who may find it more difficult to travel or take part in our existing face- to-face approaches. Anyone interested in presenting their ideas or research in ageing or dementia that might be of interest to the group please contact Michelle to discuss.”

Our first research seminar of 2021 – THIS WEDNESDAY

Seminar 1

Title: Dementia and digital selfhood: Identity formation in the age of social media

Speaker: Dr Catherine Talbot

Date and time: 10th February @ 12.30pm

Abstract:  A diagnosis of dementia in mid-life can be challenging, often causing losses or changes in a person’s identity as a worker, partner, or parent. Dementia also continues to be a stigmatised condition, whereby those with the diagnosis are frequently identified as ‘victims’ and ‘sufferers’. In contrast, social media may provide some individuals with a means of reconstructing identity, by facilitating narrative and community membership. In this presentation, Dr Catherine Talbot will discuss the findings of her interview study with 11 people with young-onset dementia who use Twitter. Her findings suggest that people with young-onset dementia are using Twitter to re-establish, communicate, preserve, and redefine their identities. However, there are some risks as Twitter was sometimes a hostile environment for individuals who did not present in a ‘typical’ manner or faced technical difficulties because of their symptoms. These findings have important implications for post-diagnostic support provision and the design of accessible social media platforms.

Seminar 2

Title: Functional and structural plasticity in the ageing brain  

Speaker: Prof Hana Burianová 

Date and time: 20th April @12.30pm

Abstract: Determining the mechanisms that underlie neurocognitive ageing and facilitating the development of effective strategies for cognitive improvement are essential due to the steadily rising ageing population. One approach to study the characteristics of ageing comprises the assessment of functional and structural connectivity in the brain, delineating markers of age-related neurocognitive plasticity. In this talk, Prof. Hana Burianová will discuss the findings of several neuroimaging studies, which demonstrate evidence of age-related functional alterations, such as compensation and/or dedifferentiation, as well as structural decline, such as reduced white matter integrity. The complex relations between the brain reorganisation and behavioural performance have critical implications for the efficiency of neurocognitive functioning in older adults. 

Seminar 3

Title: Interactive Digital Narratives for Health: Approaches to using storygames as intervention and education  

Speaker: Dr Lyle Skains 

Time and date: 16th June @ 12.30pm

Abstract

Interactive digital narratives (IDNs) (a.k.a. digital fiction, storygames, hypertexts, interactive fiction) are an emerging form of engaging storytelling adaptable to many devices, platforms, purposes, and audiences. This talk highlights pilot studies in creating and using IDNs as health and science education-through-entertainment on the Playable Comms project (playablecomms.org). As an interdisciplinary network of projects, Playable Comms combines science and arts research and practice to develop a model for creation of health- & sci-comm IDNs, and evaluates their efficacy, attempting to measure message uptake from outright rejection to holistic adoption engendering associated behavioural change. IDNs can be used in schools, GP waiting rooms, on tablets and smartphones; interactivity significantly increases retention, particularly when incorporated into media that audiences voluntarily and eagerly devote attention to.  

We hope you will join us at our seminars, if you are interested in attending please email adrc@bournemouth.ac.uk and we will send you the relevant zoom meeting details.

Thank you for your support

Best wishes

The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre