No-one left to cope alone
Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), this project aims to begin developing a support package for people with dementia who have just received their diagnosis. The hope is that this support package can be used in memory clinics to help people manage the emotional impact of the diagnosis.
Current work
Work officially began on NOLA in August of 2023. As part of Phase 1, we are currently conducting two systematic reviews of the literature. For our first systematic review, we are sourcing and evaluating all previous psychological interventions that are designed to support psychological adjustment to a diagnosis of a physical or mental health condition. From this, we hope to learn about successful previous interventions and use this evidence to begin developing the NOLA intervention.
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In our second systematic review, we will source all existing psychosocial interventions that aim to improve wellbeing for people with dementia. There are lots of interventions in this area, so in this review, we will focus on identifying shared characteristics across successful intervention for people with dementia. Again, we hope to use this evidence to begin our own work on developing the NOLA intervention.
Next Steps
We are busy preparing for the first of our research studies. Beginning in January 2024, we hope to recruit 80 people with dementia and carers to take part in a survey or a one-off interview with a researcher. In this study we will ask people with dementia and carers to reflect on the impact the diagnosis had on them and their families. We will also ask our participants for their recommendations for what our intervention should contain to best support people with dementia. The study can either be completed online as a survey, or during an interview with a researcher. We will post a link to more information about the study here when it becomes available
Contact
Are you a carer, person with dementia, healthcare or policy professional interested in hearing more? Please get in touch today.