BU Research Blog

November 8, 2017

ADRC Presentation at the 18th International Conference on Falls and Postural Stability

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On Friday 15^th September, ADRC’s Dr Samuel Nyman presented a poster at the annual falls conference held in the UK organised by the British Geriatrics Society.

Dr Nyman presented on behalf of BU MSc student Renuka Balasundaram, who was the lead author on a Fusion-funded quality improvement project, “Evaluation of the Otago Exercise Programme at Christchurch Day hospital”
[link to http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2017/07/05/experiences-from-a-fusion-investment-funded-student-research-assistant-project-aiming-to-improve-the-quality-of-local-nhs-care/].
Working closely with the falls prevention team, Christchurch Day Hospital, Renuka evaluated the exercise programme delivered there and made recommendations on how to improve adherence with the use of behaviour change techniques. There was much interest in this work and the effective collaboration between physiotherapists and psychologists to improve patient care for older people.

September 18, 2017

ADRC attend European Health Psychology Society Conference, Padua, Italy

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Dr Samuel Nyman, Yolanda Barrado-Martín and Iram Bibi from the Psychology Department and Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) attended the 31^st edition of the European Health Psychology Society Conference in Padua (Italy) from 29^th August to 2^nd September 2017.

European and International researchers met in Padua on this occasion to learn about projects under the theme “Innovative ideas in Health Psychology”. Dr Samuel Nyman and Yolanda Barrado-Martín had an oral presentation each entitled: “Systematic review of behaviour change techniques used to increase physical activity among people with dementia” and “Acceptability of a tai chi intervention for people living with dementia and their informal carers”. Dr Samuel Nyman was also in charge of chairing the session “Physical and cognitive function in later life” involving these two presentations. Those attending the session showed their interest in the topic and asked questions about ways of facilitating people living with dementia’s participation in exercise interventions. This was a great experience for Yolanda who presented for the first time her PhD pilot results to an international audience.

Participation in EHPS Conference was a valued addition in knowledge regarding interventions, exercise, behaviour change techniques, adherence to interventions, and relationship of patient and care givers. Titles of few among many interesting sessions are highlighted; “Mechanisms and adherence in interventions for patients with chronic disease,” “Caregiving and relationships in health,” “Methods for building better behavior change interventions,” “Dyadic regulation processes to promote health and well-being in romantic couples,” Developing and evaluating interventions to promote physical activity: issues in special settings and populations” and “Behaviour change theory and interventions in implementation research.” Iram Bibi found that the Poster presentations were also a great learning experience and an opportunity to socialize with scholars from around the globe.

September 12, 2017

ADRC presented latest results at two conferences in Germany

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Jan Wiener, Ramona Grzeschik and Chris Hilton represented the Ageing & Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) at the 40th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP) 27–31 August 2017 in Berlin and the 20th Conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCoP) 3-6 September 2017 in Potsdam.

The ECVP is an annual meeting that brings together researchers from Psychology, Neurosciences, Optics, Computational Sciences and more. Besides vision, other modalities are represented as well as their interaction (multisensory perception). The conference of the ESCoP is being held once every two years. The society’s mission is “the furtherance of scientific enquiry within the field of Cognitive Psychology and related subjects, particularly with respect to collaboration and exchange of information between researchers in different European countries”.

Ramona represented the ADRC at both conferences with her ESRC-funded project on Dementia-friendly environments. In particular, she presented a poster with the latest results of her wayfinding experiment where she investigated the route learning abilities and eye movements of young and old participants.

At the ESCoP conference, Jan gave a talk on “What can eye-tracking tell us about the cognitive mechanisms underlying successful navigation?” where he introduced a couple of experiments that investigated eye movements during route and place learning in Virtual Environments.

Chris presented his results at the ESCoP as well. His poster titled “An exploration into the effects of ageing on general control of attention during route learning in a complex environment.” escribed his experiment using a natural looking virtual environment called “Virtual Tübingen”. He investigated attentional engagement during a route learning task in young and old participants.

August 9, 2017

Cancer and Nutrition NIHR Infrastructure Collaboration

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Do you have an interest in people living with Cancer and Nutrition?

Then read more about the important activities of the Cancer and Nutrition NIHR infrastructure collaboration.

Since its establishment in 2014 the collaboration has sought to better enable a wide community of interested parties to bring together the high quality research being carried out in cancer together with the highquality research being carried out in nutrition, so that each can add value to the other in the interest of patients and the public.

There are 5 workstreams : Workstream 1: Patientsand Public, Workstream 2: Professional Workforce – training and capacity building, Workstream 3: Research – building an infrastructure and action plan to tackle the evidence gap, Workstream 4 characterising nutritional status in cancer – the Tookit, Workstream 5: commercial sector and industry,

Professor Jane Murphy from the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) leads ‘Workstream 2: Professional Workforce – training and capacity building’ and is a member of the Steering Committee.

The activities accomplished in Phase 2 are presented in the following report just published and more details about the collaboration can be found on the website.

Report Link
http://cancerandnutrition.nihr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Cancer-Nutrition-Full-Report-FINAL_03-06-16.pdf

Website Link
http://cancerandnutrition.nihr.ac.uk/work-streams/

Please contact Jane: jmurphy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you would like to know more or have any questions or queries.

August 7, 2017

The TACIT Trial releases YouTube video to help with recruitment

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The TACIT Trial has a new professional video; please forward to anyone you know who has dementia or is a carer of someone with dementia who may be interested in taking part in this study: https://youtu.be/96Kyi_P7ngI.

Further information can be found below and by visiting the website www.bournemouth.ac.uk/tai-chi. A YouTube clip can also be seen with Dr Samuel Nyman appearing on the BBC Radio Solent breakfast show and the breakfast team taking part in Tai Chi.

The TACIT Trial Team at Bournemouth University Ageing & Dementia Research Centre are looking for people living with dementia and their carers to take part in an exciting new study. For more information, please get in touch!

People with dementia and their informal carer will be helping with research to find out if Tai Chi is beneficial for people with dementia. All participants will be talking to researchers on a weekly basis and half will have the chance of getting to do Tai Chi. This study will be based in #Bournemouth #Ferndown #Christchurch #Dorchester #Poole #Romsey #Eastleigh #Portsmouth.
You can have a look at our flyer (https://goo.gl/vZzkWG) and our venues´ details (www.bournemouth.ac.uk/tai-chi).

If you want to get involved, please contact Yolanda Barrado-Martín by:
· E-mail: ybarradomartin@bournemouth.ac.uk
· Telephone: 07801890258
· Facebook #TheTACITTrial: Fill out our questionnaire (https://goo.gl/forms/WA5mk2vR8m9qWw0K2) with your contact details and we will get back to you!

July 5, 2017

Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) at Royal College of Physicians – launch of Electronic workbook for Nutrition and Dementia care

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Professor Jane Murphy, Joanne Holmes and Michelle Board supported by Michelle O’Brien hosted the launch of the online version of the workbook ‘Eating and Drinking Well: Supporting People Living with Dementia’ at the Royal College of Physicians, London on 27^th June 2017. Attended by leading stakeholders across health and social care, charities including age UK, hospices, WRVS and housing organisations, this impact event explore how good nutrition and hydration can be improved for people living with dementia.

The ADRC was delighted to welcome Professor Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England who gave an inspiring keynote speech concentrating on the importance of nutrition to ensure dignity in care. He was passionate about the need to raise the profile of good food and nutrition amongst politicians and policy makers to enhance and maintain quality of life for many older people receiving social care. Other speakers included Jan Zietara, Head of Operational Delivery, Health Education England (South) who talked about current work and new developments to enhance the knowledge and skills of the health and social workforce with particular focus on initiatives for dementia education and training. Finally, Kathy Wallis, Senior Programme Manager, Nutrition in Older People Programme, Wessex Academic Health Science Network highlighted the projects, resources and tools undertaken to address the growing concerns of malnutrition (undernutrition) in older people living in the community.

Helped by a lovely afternoon tea, there was active and lively discussion by all participants about how the workbook could help improve the delivery of nutritional care for people with dementia across a range of health and social care sectors. All were very supportive of the training tools and left the event with lots of ideas and identified actions to put into place that would be followed up by the team!

The workbook stems from research funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing. The workbook is freely downloadable from the website:

http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/nutrition-dementia

It is designed to be used in conjunction with a training film, also available via the website.

July 3, 2017

BU research project encourages people with dementia to take up Tai Chi

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A new research project is encouraging people with dementia to take up tai chi.

The project, called The TACIT Trial: TAi ChI for people with demenTia, aims to test whether tai chi is of benefit to people with dementia, and of benefit for their carers. Click here to read the full article.

May 17, 2017

Nutrition and Dementia care workbook now ebook!

mobrien

This week is Dementia Awareness Week and the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) is engaging with a number of initiatives to raise awareness of dementia.

In 2016 we launched our nutrition and dementia care workbook, a research informed training tool informed by our project led Professor Jane Murphy with Joanne Holmes, funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing. This has been very well received across health and social care, enabling staff to make quality improvements and impact on the delivery of nutritional care for people living with dementia.

This week we are excited to release an online version of our workbook and will have a much wider reach to support people living with dementia. It is freely available to everyone and can be accessed from our website http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/nutrition-dementia

For more details contact Michelle O’Brien: mobrien@bournemouth.ac.uk

May 3, 2017

Invitation to join ADRC Research Meetings

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We cordially invite staff and students with an interest in ageing and/or dementia research to join us at our monthly Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) research meetings. The meetings provide an opportunity for those with related research interests to network and hear about the wealth of research in this area across BU.

We kick off our first ADRC Research Meeting on 9^th May 2017 from 11-12.30 (S218, Studland House, Lansdowne Campus) with our theme leaders providing an overview of our three research themes:

Ageing and Dementia Friendly Environments – Prof Jan Wiener
Nutrition and Well-being – Prof Jane Murphy
Activity and Social Inclusion – Dr Ben Hicks

Following the success of a recent FHSS research seminar, the presentations will be in the ignite style – which is a short five minute slots using images, narratives, and altmetrics (http://www.ignitetalks.io/).

We look forward to seeing you there.

Anyone wishing to present their ageing or dementia research at a forthcoming research meeting should contact Dr Michelle Heward to discuss further.

Kind regards

Ageing and Dementia Research Centre

November 7, 2016

Do you know someone with dementia who might like to come to some free Tai Chi classes?

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In the Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI), we currently have several research projects actively looking for people with dementia and their informal carers to take part.

If you know of anyone with dementia or a carer of someone with dementia who may be interested please let them know.

Current opportunities include taking part in a Tai Chi study where they get to receive free Tai Chi classes to assess the benefits of Tai Chi to their health and wellbeing.

These are currently being held for 4 weeks in the Christchurch and Eastleigh areas (with more opportunities next year in other areas including Bournemouth and Poole).

They will need to get in contact as soon as possible to avoid missing classes!

For more information about the Tai Chi study please see the flyer here and contact Yolanda Barrado-Martín on Tel: 07801 890258, Email: ybarradomartin@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Other projects include studies where they visit the university to take part in novel tasks that look at our ability to navigate our way through virtual environments, or keep a diary about their engagement in leisure activities throughout their usual week.

For more information about other BUDI projects please click here or contact the BUDI office via budi@bournemouth.ac.uk and/or telephone 01202 962771

October 27, 2016

NIHR-funded TACIT Trial: TAi ChI for people with demenTia.

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Since the beginning of 2016, Dr Samuel Nyman (Psychology Department, and Bournemouth University Dementia Institute) has been funded 100% of his time for 3 years by the NIHR on a Career Development Fellowship. Part of the fellowship is to conduct a research project: “The TACIT Trial TAi ChI for people with demenTia”.

The first external presentation about this project was on the 11^th November 2015 as part of an ESRC-funded seminar series, Physical activity among hard-to-reach groups: Issues of research, policy and practice. That presentation was noticed by Haringey Council who have charged a scrutiny panel with the task of reviewing their strategy for increasing physical activity among older people in their borough. As part of this review, last week on the 13^th October, Haringey Council invited Samuel, along with other colleagues from across charitable / higher education / private sectors, to present about the project. The project was met with much interest and contributed to a roundtable discussion on how to implement the current evidence-base into practice.

Dr Nyman and guests with the scrutiny panel, Haringey Council Chamber

The project is starting to recruit into its Pilot Intervention Phase, and will recruit into the randomised controlled trial phase in the spring of 2017. The trial results will be available in the autumn of 2018 before Samuel finishes his fellowship in December 2018.

For further information about the TACIT Trial, please see:

Summary of the project on the NIHR’s blog: http://www.nihr.ac.uk/newsroom/blog/why-tai-chi-may-be-a-great-activity-for-people-with-dementia.htm
Short piece giving a rationale for promoting Tai Chi to prevent falls, to be published in Perspectives in Public Health (in press): http://staffprofiles.bournemouth.ac.uk/display/journal-article/216768
International Clinical Trials registration: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02864056

September 20, 2016

‘Tagging your identity’

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Last week Ben Hicks and Shanti Shanker from BUDI and the Psychology Department hosted a series of Graffiti workshops for people with dementia and their care partners. The workshops were led by an experienced Graffiti Artist from Graff Inc. who worked with the participants to develop an individual ‘tag’ and piece of street art that represented their sense of identity.

The label of ‘dementia’ has the power to evoke fear and stigma and this can detrimentally impact on the identity of people living with the condition and those supporting them. The Graffiti workshops provided an empowering opportunity for people to express and reclaim a sense of ‘self’ as well as challenge negative preconceptions of Graffiti, such as who uses it and for what purpose. It shows that people with dementia still have a sense of identity that they can still identify with. The workshops were enjoyed by all those who attended.

The final pieces of street art that were created will be displayed at the Subway between ASDA and the Handelsbanken Building, below A35 (or St Paul’s Road), Bournemouth from 5th October. Please go and check them out!

August 4, 2016

Dementia toolkit to help patients, carers and healthcare workers – now live!

Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, Research news jcodling

The aim of this Dementia Evidence Toolkit is to make all information publicly that is publicly available, available in a form that is clear and easy to understand for dementia patients, their families and unpaid carers as well as for staff working in health and social care. It will also benefit academics and those involved in decision-making both locally and nationally.

Launched at the beginning of August , the toolkit devised by Adelina Comas-Herrera, David McDaid, Professor Martin Knapp and colleagues, is the first of its kind globally, and is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The Dementia Evidence Toolkit brings together more than 3,000 journal articles and 700 reviews of research studies in one place.

The toolkit is in the form of a comprehensive online database featuring the latest scientific evidence on what works in dementia care and treatment has been developed by the researchers at the Personal Social Services Research Unit, London School of Economics and Political Science (PSSRU at LSE).

Dementia is the fastest growing major cause of health-related disability across the world, and the health, social and economic impacts are increasing because of an ageing population. There are around 850,000 people in the UK with the condition, a figure expected to rise to 2 million by 2051. There are currently no cures for dementia which is associated with ongoing cognitive decline such as memory loss, problems with judgement and often some behavioural issues. Instead, the focus for healthcare services is on slowing down dementia progression using different care approaches.

Read the press release in full.

June 30, 2016

BUDI presents at the 2016 BU Festival of Learning

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On Wednesday 29^th June, BUDI hosted an event ‘(Re) consider Dementia’ as part of the annual BU Festival of Learning. It was a packed day and showcased a number of research projects as well as entertainment from the BUDI Orchestra.

During the morning, Dr Samuel Nyman introduced the TACIT Trial. Funded by the National Institute for Health Research, this project will teach Tai Chi to people living with dementia in the Bournemouth and Southampton areas, with the aim to see whether it leads to improvements in postural balance, health and wellbeing for them and their carer. Some of the Tai Chi exercises were then taught to the participating audience by Robert Joyce of Elemental Tai Chi, who is part of the team working on this project. You can obtain further information by visiting http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/dementia-institute/2016/02/18/4170/.

Over the lunch hour, attendees were entertained by the BUDI Orchestra as they held their concert in the Student Hall. This performance was the first of three that will be held over the next 12 months following funding from the Arts Council won earlier this year by Andy Baker, the lead musician. The orchestra is made up of those living with dementia, their carer partners, BU staff (in the picture you can see BU’s Sarah Cronin singing “Danny Boy”) along with 5 talented musicians. Everyone was joyous and in good spirits especially as the BBC were filming the orchestra for their Inside Out programme to be featured in September. Bournemouth Echo as well as BU’s PR team were also taking photos, video clips and quotes from both the orchestra and the audience. You may have seen the Echo’s article already.

May we take this opportunity to ask that should you know of anyone living with dementia that would like to join the orchestra, or if you have any unwanted string or percussion instruments that you no longer have use for then please do contact budi@bournemouth.ac.uk as the orchestra will give them a good home.

The afternoon continued with three interesting presentations focusing on current BUDI research. Dr Michelle Heward started by introducing team posters and presenting Cage Cricket, a pilot project being carried out by Dr Rick Fisher and Ben Hicks who are working in partnership with Dementia Hampshire and Cage4All. To find our more visit http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/dementia-institute/2016/06/02/cage-cricket-with-people-with-dementia-and-their-care-partners/

After a short interval, Michelle continued with her own informative project on “Fire safety in the home”. This was funded by the Inspired by 2012 Health & Wellbeing Legacy Fund. Michelle and Dr Fiona Kelly worked closely with Dorset Fire & Rescue in producing training of some staff and literature. Michelle then answered several interesting questions. To find out more visit http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/dementia-institute/2016/03/23/fire-safety-innovations-for-people-affected-by-dementia-2/

Finally, Mary Duah-Owusu White presented for the first time on her PhD “Improving care for people in acute hospital wards”. The audience listened with interest and look forward to hearing the outcomes at a future BUDI event.

To find out more about our work please visit our website: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/dementia-institute/
Report by Michelle O’Brien, BUDI Administrator

May 31, 2016

International Clinical Trials Day 2016

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On 17 May, The Royal Bournemouth Hospital celebrated the International Clinical Trials Day 2016. The TACIT Trial (TAi Chi for people with demenTia) Team had been invited to give a presentation at this event. Yolanda Barrado-Martín (pictured here) as PhD Researcher working on the trial attended the event and gave a talk on the impact and characteristics of the project. The audience was mainly formed by professionals working at the Hospital, academics, and the principal guest was The Worshipful The Mayor of Bournemouth.

For further information about the project please click here
Email: Dr Samuel Nyman – snyman@bournemouth.ac.uk and/or
Yolanda Barrado-Martin – ybarradomartin@bournemouth.ac.uk

May 16, 2016

BUDI Open Meeting held on 11 May 2016

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Last Wednesday, Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) held their fourth annual Open Day. The event marked a new era for BUDI as Dr Jan Wiener and Dr Jane Murphy announced their arrival as the new Head and Co-Head of the Institute, respectively. The event was BUDI’s most successful yet with close to 100 people attending including academics, local practitioners, business, charity and care managers as well as people with dementia and their care partners. This emphasises the great in-roads BUDI continues to make within the local community and the interest that their research is generating.

The event consisted of five presentations delivered by BUDI staff and PhD researchers. Kicking it off, Mary O’Malley, Ramona Grzeschik and Chris Hilton spoke about their project on ‘Wayfinding in Dementia.’ This is fast becoming a specialist area within BUDI after the success of Jan Wiener’s ESRC grant. Following this, Samuel Nyman and Yolanda Barrado-Martin discussed their recently funded NIHR project that aims to use Tai Chi for people with dementia and their care partners. Michelle Heward then outlined the work she has been doing with the local fire service to develop training that enables them to support people with dementia living at home, before Ben Hicks spoke about the innovative ‘Cage Cricket’ project that he is delivering at Hampshire Cricket ground. Finally Rick Fisher concluded the talks by promoting the new BUDI Online Masters Programme that started this academic year. The range of talks highlighted the varied research that BUDI continues to undertake within its remit as a cross-discipline Institute.

The post-presentation activities included a networking and poster session before Michelle Heward closed the event by delivering a Dementia Friends Awareness Session as part of BUDI’s wider aim to ensure Bournemouth becomes a Dementia-Friendly University.

Feedback suggested the event was an enjoyable day out for all those who attended and helped to ensure that BUDI continues to play an integral role in supporting those living with dementia and their care partners within the Dorset County.

‘The event exceeded my expectations – very useful contacts and information about all projects’ (Dementia Practitioner)

‘To see how the university/BUDI is linking with the community and developing ideas to improve things’ (Dementia Practitioner)

January 29, 2016

BUDI’s January 2016 Newsletter

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Click here to read the full newsletter.

December 4, 2015

Dr. Fiona Kelly invited guest speaker at Cecily Saunders Institute, King’s College London

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On 25^th November, Dr Fiona Kelly attended the Cecily Saunders Institute at King’s College London as an invited guest speaker to present research on determining what aspects of the design of care environments might be important for people with dementia nearing the end of life. The key messages of her presentation were the importance of firstly assuming the ability of people with dementia to engage with the senses, whether through touch, sound, smell, sight or taste and then to provide the means of engaging with whatever sense was appropriate or possible. The presentation was followed by a panel discussion with the audience in which the practical application of design principles within hospital settings was debated. The consensus was that even small changes can make a big difference. Following the presentation and discussion, the panel made a commitment to include consideration of dementia design principles in staff education within the Institute.

Fleming, R., Kelly, F. and Stillfried, G. (2015) ‘I want to feel at home’: establishing what aspects of environmental design are important to people with dementia nearing the end of life, BMC Palliative Care. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-684X/14/26

Tagged / dementia