By working in partnership with people living with dementia, carers, social care practitioners, and other experts the research team co-produced a free, supportive guide to social care post dementia diagnosis: https://www.forwardwithdementia.org/en/. The guide is aimed at people with dementia, carers, health professionals and care workers.
The guide was informed by the views of underserved communities and involved study participants from diverse background and communities (e.g. LGBT, South Asian and people with rare forms of dementia).
Forward with Dementia was adopted by ARC south London's social care theme in 2022. The research team are now working to maximise dissemination of the resource among people on a dementia journey, professionals, and the public. They worked with a design agency (https://spencerdubois.co.uk/) to create a social media campaign which launched in July and will continue throughout the summer. They will share facts, news and responses to current affairs on Twitter and Facebook, give practical advice on holidays, finance, and health, and include personal stories and news on our website. To facilitate navigation of the website for all users, the research team co-produced animation videos with guidance and instructions,
We are especially committed to disseminate Forward with dementia among underserved communities. We have been awarded a UCL East Community Engagement Seed Fund to undertake a six-month community-based project to raise dementia awareness in the South Asian community of East London.
The research team at UCL, King’s College London and University of Newcastle has recently been awarded NIHR Three Schools: Dementia Research Programme funding for a new research project co-producing with social prescribers an evidence-based resource to improve community-based personalised dementia care. They are recruiting social prescribing link workers for interviews around training and information needs to be addressed in the new resource and will share updates as they continue with this exciting new study.
To find out more, please contact Dr Claudio Di Lorito: Claudio.dilorito@ucl.ac.uk.