Relationship-Centred Dementia Care Education and Research 2011-2012
Hello!
Welcome to the Dementia Care Education and Research webpage at the University of Sheffield School of Nursing and Midwifery.
This page outlines the dementia care education we currently offer, highlights new courses in the pipeline and provides information about local initiatives relating to dementia care. We also keep you informed with dementia related research being undertaken within the department and signpost links to important organisations and policy developments in the field of dementia care - be they local or national. We also publish a poem each month.
Please come back from time to time to find out more about our distinctive approach to Dementia Care Education and Research.
If you have any suggestions about items to include on this page or any comments please contact David Reid (d.reid@sheffield.ac.uk).
Courses on offer
We currently offer a ten week (one study day a week) 20 credit unit (at levels 5 and 6) in Foundations in Relationship-Centred Dementia Care. This unit is aimed at all health and social care professionals who support people with dementia and their families. The purpose of the course is to encourage students to 'walk in the footsteps' of people living with dementia - both those diagnosed and those affected within families, to support students to question their own attitudes about dementia and use this learning about relationships to discover new, positive approaches towards dementia care. Classroom-based lectures, group-work, reflection and practice visits are combined to give students what we hope is a thorough, enjoyable and enlightening learning experience.
We also offer a Dementia Awareness study day. This study day - typically offered on a bespoke basis to NHS Trusts - gives students from health and social care backgrounds a concise overview of key changes in thinking about dementia care that have occurred during the last twenty years. We draw upon the research evidence-base and theoretical developments that have occurred across a range of disciplines, to explore the experience of dementia. Students are encouraged to participate through sharing their clinical experiences and are supported to consider whether or not the challenges they encounter are located in a person's dementia or others' understanding of dementia.
New PG Cert in Relationship-Centred Dementia Care coming in 2012
In Spring 2012 we will offer a new Post Graduate Certificate in Relationship-Centred Dementia Care. This course is currently being finalised but will include critical approaches to dementia care theory, structured, practical opportunities for students to develop their communication skills with our service partner, and a strong emphasis on understanding meaningful user involvement in dementia care services.
If you are interested in this new course then please send an expression of interest to David Reid.
email : d.reid@sheffield.ac.uk
Current Dementia Care Research at the School of Nursing and Midwifery
Sheffield Dementia Information Pack
The Project
An exciting new project in Sheffield starting in November 2011 aims to improve the provision of information to people with serious memory problems or a diagnosis of dementia. The project has been funded (£10,170) by three local charities: the Marjorie Coote Old People´s Charity Fund, the Sheffield Town Trust and the Sheffield Church Burgesses Trust. The proposal was developed by David Reid, Tony Warnes (SISA) and Lori Low following discussions with Caroline Kendrew and colleagues of the Alzheimer´s Society, with Anne Ashby, and with many other colleagues and friends around the city.
The Problem
The inspiration for the project is our understanding that people who experience serious memory problems, and those who receive a diagnosis of dementia, have diverse concerns and information needs, but that these are imperfectly met. All research on the topic confirms this finding, and it is many people´s experience. Other prompts for the project was the advocacy for such an initiative by Professor Alistair Burns (National Clinical Director for Dementia) during the 2010 Marjorie Coote Lecture, and the
publication of an innovative information pack by a consortium in the London Borough of Redbridge.
What we will do
Produce, publish and distribute a `Sheffield Dementia Information Pack´ with the involvement of the providers of treatment, care, advice and support to people with memory problems or a diagnosed dementia.
How we will do it
Three principles will underpin all stages of the project: our ambition is for a strong consensus about the contents and format of the pack; we will attend closely to the views of information users, and we will incorporate the agreed recommendations of all service and support providers in the city. There will be repeated consultations with statutory and voluntary service provider agencies and practitioners, and with service users (people with dementia and carers/supporters). Consensus will be sought through four Forum meetings.
For more information, email: a.warnes@sheffield.ac.uk or telephone 0114 222 2060
4th Dementia Creative Arts Exhibition 2011: Humour
In our 4th Dementia Creative Arts Exhibition the theme will be 'Humour'. This theme was suggested by nurses attending a dementia awareness study day, and follows on from previous exhibition themes of 'Relationships', 'Love' and 'Dreams'. The idea of the Exhibition is to give people with dementia, their families and supporters as well as dementia care practitioners an annual opportunity to share with the wider public their experiences of living with dementia.
Please consider submitting poetry, stories, memories, paintings, photographs, collages, audio-tape recorded material, video-clips – or other forms of art work. We are open to all types of contributions.
The exhibition will take place between 10am and 4pm from 21st to 25th May 2012 at the Exhibition Space, Jessop West, close to West Street, Sheffield.
If you have any questions about the Dementia Creative Arts Exhibition 2012 please contact David Reid, Lecturer, School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of Sheffield (0114 222 2060; email d.reid@sheffield.ac.uk).
Exhibition submission arrangements:
Please send your work, clearly labelled with your name and address, by April 21st 2012, to: David Reid, `4th Dementia Creative Art Exhibition´, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Samuel Fox House, Northern General Hospital, Herries Road, Sheffield, S57AU. Alternatively, please email your contributions to me.
Dementia Links
On the right of this page is a list of links to what we consider to be important organisations and policy documents. There are links to the Alzheimer's Society (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) and Alzheimer's Scotland - Action on Dementia.
There is also a link to the English National Dementia Strategy, published in February 2009.
There is also a link to DASN International, an internet based international support network established in 2000 to: Promote respect and dignity for persons with dementia; Provide a forum for the exchange of information; Encourage support mechanisms such as local groups, counselling groups and Internet
linkages; and Advocate for services for people with dementia.
Poem for November 2011
From Autumn 2011 contributions are invited for a poem relating to dementia to feature on this page. If you would like your poem to be considered please email it to David Reid. November's poem is below.
Black Hole (by Maureen Atkin)
Now helpless prisoner of a world
adrift in void of mental space,
you gaze at me with vacant eyes
as though you never knew my face.
You sit, disinterested, confused;
my conversation goes unheard,
while your voice, interrupting, slurs
one unintelligible word.
Yet, though aware you're gone from me,
I wait, and hope, for some small sign.
With aching heart I reach and grasp,
but you withdraw your hands from mine.
I sigh acceptance of your fate,
caress your cheek with finger-tip.....
Dementia's force-field thwarts escape
from savagery of time-warp grip.