People with Dementia, Contributing to Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Innovative Practice

Patients and service users have a well-established role in teaching and learning on professional qualifying programmes such as such as social work and nursing. However, the role of people with dementia in contributing to educational initiatives at higher educational level remains under explored. Four people with dementia were recruited as Expert by Lived Experience Tutors for the Foundation Degree in Dementia Studies at a University in the United Kingdom. They met students regularly to support their learning. We were interested in researching whether and how this enhanced the ability of students to enable people to live well with dementia. However, we also discovered that the initiative gave insight into psychosocial aspects of dementia, and a new opportunity to explore personhood, co-production and social citizenship. That is the focus of this article

'It would be easier if she’d died’: young people with parents with dementia articulating inadmissible stories

In the U.K. context where the emphasis is (quite rightly) on living well with dementia, on positivity and enabling approaches, it can be difficult for researchers to investigate and report negative experiences. Failing to re-present perceptions and experiences as they are lived, however, does a serious disservice to the research endeavor and can prevent policy and service development and positive change. In this article, we present some stories told by participants in an Alzheimer’s Society (United Kingdom) Funded project uniquely investigating the perceptions and experiences of children and young people who have a parent with dementia. Sometimes the stories were not easy to hear, especially when they challenged dominant master narratives around dementia. We discuss our view that when the young people we spoke with told us how things were for them, we were ethically bound to respect and disseminate their accounts

Interventions that support the creation of dementia friendly environments in health care : protocol for a realist review

© 2016 Handley et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise statedImproving health-care outcomes for people living with dementia when they are admitted to hospital is a policy priority. Dementia friendly interventions in health care promote inclusion of patients and carers in decision-making and adapt practices and environments to be appropriate to the needs of people with cognitive impairment. While there has been a wealth of activity, the number of studies evaluating interventions is limited, and the majority focuses on reporting staff and organisational outcomes. By focusing on patient and carer outcomes, this review will aim to develop an explanatory account of how and in what circumstances dementia friendly environments in health care work for people living with dementia and with what outcomesPeer reviewe

Rights in mind: Thinking differently about dementia and disability

The aim of this paper is to argue for the utility of a relational model of disability, as a way of conceptualizing dementia. We explore whether dementia should be considered as a disability, and whether people with dementia might consider themselves as disabled people. We review examples of, and issues raised by, the political activism of people with dementia. We consider how language constructs dementia negatively. We discuss how the environment influences the experience of dementia. In conclusion, we show that a relational model of dementia lays the basis for a human rights approach to the condition, based on collaborative partnerships between people with dementia and people from other disability communities

Correlates of firesetting in a community sample of young adolescents

Objective: To investigate relationships between firesetting, antisocial behaviour, individual, family and parenting factors in a large community sample of adolescents. Method: A cross-sectional study of students (n = 2596) aged 13 years on average, from 27 schools in South Australia with a questionnaire on firesetting, antisocial behaviour (adapted 21-item Self Report Delinquency Scale), risk-taking, drug use, suicidality, physical and sexual abuse, depressive symptomatology, hopelessness, anxiety, locus of control, self-esteem, family functioning (McMaster Family Assessment Device) and parenting style (Influential Relationships Questionnaire). Data analysis included χ2, ANOVA and logistic regression. Results: Large significant differences are found between firesetters and non-firesetters on all measures. Among adolescents with serious levels of antisocial behaviour (7+ acts included in diagnostic guidelines for DSM-IV conduct disorder), firesetters differ from non-firesetters in reporting more extreme antisocial behaviour (10+ acts), extreme drug use, suicidal behaviour, and perceived failure at school. Gender differences are apparent. A study limitation is the single item assessment of firesetting. Conclusions: Self-report firesetting is strongly associated with extreme antisocial behaviour in young community adolescents, in support of existing evidence from incarcerated delin-quent and psychiatric populations. Early detection of community firesetters demands further assessment and intervention. Clinicians should consider its coexistence with serious drug use and high risk-taking (especially in girls), and suicidality, sexual and physical abuse (in boys). Key words

The Right to Rehabilitation for People With Dementia: A Codesign Approach to Barriers and Solutions

Introduction: People with dementia of all ages have a human right to equal access to quality health care. Despite evidence regarding its effectiveness, many people living with dementia are unable to access rehabilitation for promoting function and quality of life. Conducted in Australia, this study was designed to (1) explore barriers to access to dementia rehabilitation and (2) identify solutions that improve access to rehabilitation. Methods: People living with dementia (n = 5) and care partners (n = 8) and health professionals (n = 13) were recruited nationally. Experience-based codesign across three virtual workshops was used to understand barriers and design solutions to improve access to rehabilitation treatments. Socio-ecological analyses, using the Levesque Access to Health care framework, were applied to findings regarding barriers and to aid selection of solutions. Results: There was high attendance (92.3%) across the three workshops. Barriers were identified at a user level (including lack of knowledge, transport, cost and difficulty navigating the health, aged care and disability sectors) and health service level (including health professional low dementia knowledge and negative attitudes, inequitable funding models and non-existent or fragmented services). Solutions focused on widespread dementia education and training, including ensuring that people with dementia and their care partners know about rehabilitation therapies and that health professionals, aged care and disability co-ordinators know how to refer to and deliver rehabilitation interventions. Dementia care navigators, changes to Australia's public funding models and specific dementia rehabilitation programmes were also recommended. Conclusions: Barriers to accessing rehabilitation for people with dementia exist at multiple levels and will require a whole-community and systems approach to ensure change. Patient or Public Contribution: People with living experience (preferred term by those involved) were involved at two levels within this research. A Chief Investigator living with dementia was involved in the design of the study and writing of the manuscript. People with living experience, care partners and service providers were participants in the codesign process to identify barriers and design potential solutions

Dementia: beyond disorders of mood

This editorial will present the growing argument in the research literature that mood disorders, as defined by psychiatric diagnostic criteria, do not well serve individuals with dementia. This is important because anxiety and depression are our most used and most influential ways of understanding a highly prevalent and personally important experience in dementia: emotion. As such, there is a need to review how the disorders are currently conceptualised since they may have limited applicability for individuals with dementia, and consider what alternatives there might be. Agitation is offered as a lesson in how imprecise descriptions of behaviour can exclude the internal world of people with dementia. In our research to explore how the emotional experiences of individuals with dementia are understood, we consider what might lie beyond disorders of mood

What determines cell size?

AbstractFirst paragraph (this article has no abstract) For well over 100 years, cell biologists have been wondering what determines the size of cells. In modern times, we know all of the molecules that control the cell cycle and cell division, but we still do not understand how cell size is determined. To check whether modern cell biology has made any inroads on this age-old question, BMC Biology asked several heavyweights in the field to tell us how they think cell size is controlled, drawing on a range of different cell types. The essays in this collection address two related questions - why does cell size matter, and how do cells control it