Tagged / dementia

RADIQL: Reminiscence Arts and Dementia

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a one-day seminar hosted by Age Exchange (http://www.age-exchange.org.uk/), at The Kings’ Fund, London, to find out more about RADIQL (Reminiscence Arts and Dementia: Impact on Quality of Life) – a method that uses Reminiscence Arts to improve wellbeing and quality of life in people with dementia.

The day started with an overview of RADIQL, described by the Artistic Director of Age Exchange as “reminiscence empowering people in the present”. RADIQL encompasses two main elements: a structured Reminiscence Arts intervention, and a workforce training programme for care staff working in relationship-centred environments. We were then given an overview of the national context – the recent CQC report ‘Cracks in the Pathway’: the quality of dementia care in health and social services, and a presentation by KCL’s Jo Moriarty on care workers’ views of compassionate care.

The Keynote was provided by Dame Eileen Sills who continued the theme of ‘compassion’ by providing the back-story of ‘Barbara’s Story’, which I’m sure many within health and social care fields will have heard of already. Barbara’s Story is a dramatization created by Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust to raise awareness about dementia among their staff, and show the meaning of ‘kindness’ in the workplace, emphasising the impact that every member of staff has on patient experience. Following the success of ‘Barbara’s Story’, the Trust have since developed as series for use as training materials. You can watch ‘Barbara’s Whole Story’ here (with tissues at the ready!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtA2sMAjU_Y&feature=share&list=UUbJBh2MFKrX6Lf8bJ7_ZGWQ

The afternoon sessions saw attendees partaking in interactive workshops, demonstrating the activities one might engage with during a RADIQL session. Before the day, attendees were asked to choose whether to be a ‘participant’ or a member of an ‘audience’, i.e. whether to take part in the session, or observe a session from an objective perspective. These workshops were the most insightful part of the day, giving some first-hand experience into how the sessions may be conducted. For anyone planning seminars or ‘how-to’ workshops in the future – I would highly recommend using a similar form of dissemination, if appropriate to your cause, as this seemed to resonate with most of us as an effective and engaging way to demonstrate methods and disseminate research to peers.

The RADIQL method is currently being evaluated by Royal Holloway University London in a three year pilot project funded by Guys & St Thomas’ Charity. More information about the day, and the presentations provided, can be found here: http://www.age-exchange.org.uk/radiql-the-kings-fund/

A paper copy of the interim report and a guide to RADIQL  are available in the BUDI office (PG63) if anyone is interested.

BUDI Orchestra Needs You!

BUDI are still looking to recruit people with dementia and their carers to join the BUDI Orchestra, starting Wednesday 4th February 2015 for 8 weeks.

If you know of anyone living with dementia, or caring for someone with dementia, that you think would be interested in joining a music group led by professional musicians from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, then please do get in touch! We are also seeking volunteers with an interest in music (staff or students) to help facilitate the sessions.

Interested?

For more information, please contact: Laura Reynolds on (01202 9) 62546 or email: lreynolds@bournemouth.ac.uk.

We look forward to hearing from you!

NEW BUDI Orchestra Coming Soon!

Do you know someone living with dementia in Dorset who likes music?

If so, BUDI would like to invite the person with dementia and their carer to become part of a new BUDI Orchestra starting this January 2015. We would like them to share their musical talents and take part in a music evaluation hosted by BUDI and professional musicians.

We hope to evaluate the effects of a novel music initiative on their daily lives. They will have the opportunity to learn a new instrument, sing, or showcase their existing musical talents to their peers.

No previous musical experience is necessary, we’re looking for people who are willing to come along and ‘give it a go’!

For further information, please contact: Laura Reynolds on 01202 962546, or email: lreynolds@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Please disseminate this notice to anyone who you think may be interested in the project. A PDF flyer can be provided – please email: lreynolds@bournemouth.ac.uk.

The Grange School visits Bournemouth University Dementia Institute

On 9th December Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) were delighted to welcome Year 12 Health and Social Care students from The Grange School in Christchurch. Putting our local partnership working into practice, the students took part in a Dementia Friends session and learnt about some of BUDI’s recent projects, including the Living Well with Dementia video and the BUDI Orchestra. We hope that the student’s learning will translate positively into their future practice, and were pleased to see that their feedback forms stated they will take the following actions as a result of the session:

• “Help people with dementia if I see them struggling”
• “Correct people when they say dementia sufferer”
• ”Help people to understand dementia”
• “Be more patient”

Dementia Friends sessions are part of a national initiative by the Alzheimer’s Society to raise awareness of dementia within our local communities. The sessions are designed to help people learn more about what it’s like to live with dementia so that those affected by the condition can feel included in their local community. BUDI run regular Dementia Friends sessions, if you would like to find out more please look out for further details on the BUDI website in 2015.

Dr Michelle Heward and Dr Ahmed Romouzy Ali

Thank You from the BUDI Orchestra

Last Friday (12/12/14), the BUDI Orchestra celebrated this festive season with a Christmas Carol Concert in the Atrium, Talbot Campus. They performed classics such as, ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘White Christmas’ and a very moving rendition of ‘Winter Wonderland’. The event was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by both performers and spectators alike.

BUDI would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to everyone that attended the concert, with extra thanks to all of the staff who gave their support so the morning could run so smoothly.

We will be starting a new orchestral group in the New Year. If you know someone living with dementia that might enjoy getting involved with the group, please contact me for further information (lreynolds@bournemouth.ac.uk).

Merry Christmas!

BUDI Orchestra Christmas Concert

BUDI Orchestra Christmas Concert

Join us as we celebrate this festive season with classics such as ‘White Christmas’ and ‘Jingle Bells’ performed by members of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and local people with dementia and their carers.

When? Friday, 12th December 2014, 11am – 12noon.

Where? The Atrium (by Starbucks), Poole House, Talbot Campus.

We’d love to see you there!

For more information about this event, please contact: lreynolds@bournemouth.ac.uk.

The BUDI Orchestra rehearsing.

The BUDI Orchestra during their final rehearsal.

 

Social Media and Dementia: Raising Awareness

The use of video within social media (such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter) is providing researchers with novel ways of disseminating the findings of research. This is inspiring researchers to think outside of traditional academic approaches, and enabling research to extend to new and wide-ranging audiences. This paper focuses on the Living Well with Dementia project, which was designed to utilise video to raise awareness and challenge gaps in perceptions and understanding of dementia. The project involved filming and disseminating a video featuring people with dementia and carers talking about what it means to live well with dementia. Obtaining the views of people with dementia and carers was considered crucial in terms of portraying the real-life experiences of living with dementia, and enabling these often marginalised voices to be heard. Participants were asked ‘what is your experience of living with dementia?’ and in their responses drew upon diagnosis, treatment, lifestyle, social activities and family relationships. The finished video was disseminated through YouTube. After viewing the video, members of the public were invited to complete a short survey to establish whether watching the video challenged their understanding of dementia. This paper showcases the Living Well with Dementia video, as well as exploring the ethical and practical challenges of capturing the experiences of people with dementia on video. Preliminary results from the survey are also presented, in order to explore the role of video within social media as a method to raise awareness and challenge gaps in perceptions and understanding of dementia.

Facilitated by: Dr Michelle Heward & Dr James Palfreman-Kay

Wednesday 10th December 2014 10:00-11:00
Student Hall, Talbot House, Talbot Campus

To book your place, please e-mail Organisational Development od@bournemouth.ac.uk

Become a ‘Dementia Friend’

People with dementia get by with a little help from their friends, and anybody can become a Dementia Friend. It’s just about understanding a bit more about dementia and the small things you can do to help people with the condition. People with dementia want to carry on going about their daily lives and feeling included in their local community, but they sometimes need a helping hand to do so. Dementia Friends learn a little bit about what it’s like to live with dementia and turns that understanding into action. This could be helping someone find the right bus or being patient in a till queue if someone with dementia is taking longer to pay. Every action counts. Being a Dementia Friend isn’t about volunteering or fundraising (though you can do that too if you want). Just come along to this session to become a friend and get a simple introduction to Dementia, and how you can help.

Facilitated by: Dr Ahmed Romouzy Ali & Dr Michelle Heward

Tuesday 9th December 2014 10:00-11:00
EB303, Executive Business Centre, Lansdowne Campus

To book your place please visit: https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/workingatbu/staffdevelopmentandengagement/staffengagement/disabilityhistorymonth2014/dementiafriendssession/

BUDI talks museums and dementia at AHSW Annual Conference

Last week I was invited to represent Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) at the 9th Arts and Health South West (AHSW) Annual Conference held in Taunton. This was a great opportunity for me to talk about the Museum of Modern Art’s (MOMA’s) approach to involving people affected by dementia within their gallery space, as showcased in the MOMA Workshops held in May 2014 . I also discussed some of the work that local Dorset museums are undertaking to involve people affected by dementia, and ways to evaluate such activities.

The conference showcased a wide variety of innovative arts based projects, including: the therapeutic purposes of creative writing, doodling, and music and health from Live Music Now. The positive health impacts of arts based activities for a range of participants were highlighted in several presentations throughout the day.

Fiona Kelly represents BUDI at an international dementia conference in Sweden

On 15th October, I presented at a three-day conference at Linkoping University in Sweden on Life with Dementia 2014: Relations. There were two strands to the conference: communication and citizenship and I predominantly attended the citizenship parallel sessions as this is where I am currently focused. The conference was attended by delegates from universities in Sweden, the UK, Norway, Japan, Canada and USA, all with an interest in working and campaigning to promote the rights and inclusion of people with dementia as equal citizens or partners in interaction. In the citizenship strand, there were presentations and key notes with questions and ideas on what citizenship and rights means in the context of people with dementia, with a particular challenge of what it means for people with more severe cognitive impairment. Throughout the conference, we heard, or spoke, about interdependence, human capabilities, opportunities rather than support, inclusive research methods, co-researching, parity of participation and transformative strategies to reduce social injustice. At the end of the conference, there was a separate meeting to work on capturing the enthusiasm and commitment to ensuring people with dementia remain equal citizens, so we formed the ‘citizenship and dementia international research network’, with a view to collaborating on writing, presenting at conferences, campaigning and working on research ideas. Anyone interested in hearing more, please get in touch fkelly@bournemouth.ac.uk

First Wessex Dementia Conference

Tuesday 14 October saw the first Wessex Dementia conference hosted by Public Health England, NHS Wessex CSN and The Wessex AHSN. The turnout was much larger than expected demonstrating the increase in interest, enthusiasm and energy surrounding the dementia field. The timeline in the image attached shows just a small selection of projects about dementia that are happening in our region across the dementia timeline; that is from pre-diagnosis, diagnosis, post-diagnostic support to end of life care. BUDI’s work spans this care spectrum but only a handful of our projects are on this timelines as at BU alone we have been involved in 50 dementia projects in the last 2 years (we presented on our Orchestra project with the BSO, the 10 agency partnership project on Dementia Friendly Communities in Dorset we were part of, and the NHS Dorset Memory Advisory service we evaluated as well as having a very popular stand; orange stress balls proved to be particularly popular for our hard working clinical and practice colleagues!)  Taken together with the work of our colleagues from the voluntary, statutory and private sectors alongside our academic colleagues based at other Wessex Universities there is now a critical mass of work going on in our region which bodes well for those who might be affected by dementia in the future in Wessex but also for those currently living with dementia who are participating and hopefully benefiting from the groundswell of commitment to improving not just the diagnostic rate in our region (which two years ago was one of the lowest in the country) but to providing high quality support and services.

£1million in digital healthcare innovation available from Creative England

This fund is designed to stimulate creative and digital innovation in This UK healthcare.
Are you working with or know of  small creative and digital businesses (SMEs) with innovative concepts or prototypes using digital technology to improve patient care and health services?
These maybe in areas such as dementia, social care, and cardiovascular and medication management.
The South West is one of the first three regions to benefit from this funding opportunity.
Key information:
  • 5 x £50,000 investments will be made.
  • Companies must be based in the North, Midlands or South West.
  • Examples of projects could be improving quality of care; caring for people with dementia; supporting people with long-term conditions; and data visualisation.
  • Mobile apps, development of a new game for tablet or mobile are also eligible.

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis and the fund will close on 31 October 2014.

More information can be found here.

Alternatively please feel free to contact

Jayne Codling – Knowledge Exchange Adviser

Ext 61215 jcodling@bournemouth.ac.uk


Making a difference: BUDI donates percussion instruments to Alzheimer’s Society

In May 2014, BUDI held a cake sale to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Awareness Week. BUDI decided to use the monies to make a difference within the local community, by donating a set of percussion instruments to each of the Alzheimer’s Society ‘Sing for the Brain Groups’ in Dorset.

Dr Michelle Heward and Michelle O'Brien from BUDI present the percussion instruments to Yvonne Rogers from the Alzheimer's Society

‘Singing for the Brain’ involves people with dementia and their carers taking part in structured group sessions that use music to encourage communication and participation and include opportunities to talk to other people. Each session includes a range of activities including vocal warm-up and singing a variety of familiar and new songs. There are eight ‘Singing for the Brain Groups’ in Dorset, which run in Blandford, Christchurch, Dorchester, Gillingham, Portland, Sherborne, Westbourne and Weymouth.

Percussion instruments presented by BUDI to the Alzheimer's Society

To find out more about the ‘Sing for the Brain Groups’ in Dorset, please call the Alzheimer’s Society on: 01202 716393 or email: dorset@alzheimers.org.uk.

BUDI would like to thank everyone that donated to this worthy cause, and SUBU and the BU Baking Society for their support with this event.