Uni researchers create dementia video series

Designed to help identify care needs of loved ones

A SERIES of videos depicting the worsening stages of dementia has been created by researchers from Loughborough University to help families identify the care needs of loved ones.

Six short films have been produced with the aim of helping sufferers and relatives understand what level of care is required for relatives at various stages of dementia. They were released to coincide with Dementia Action Week.

The five-minute movies show the difficulties faced on a good day, an average day and a bad day for people with early diagnoses through to the late stages – giving people with the condition the tools to then translate their needs to healthcare professionals and receive the best available support.

The personas are played by actors and each has distinct characteristics.

Professor Sue Hignett, an expert in healthcare ergonomics and patient safety at Loughborough University, is leading the project with Professor Eef Hogervorst, an expert in dementia, and research associate Charlotte Jais.

Prof Hignett said: “The Loughborough dementia personas are a series of videos showing how life can change for people living with dementia from an early stage diagnosis (Alison) through to later in life (David).

“They show how dementia can affect people on good days, average days and bad days to represent how life really is through the eyes of both people with dementia and their carers.

“The personas are based on robust scientific research to give an evidence-based communication tool.

“They were initially designed for use as a communication platform between architects, clinicians and care providers to help in the design of the care environment – at home and for nursing homes.

“It has also been suggested that they could be useful for staff handovers to explain the type of day – good, average, bad – that a resident is having, and how this might affect their dementia symptoms.

“A further use has been suggested to help with communication within families to both understand the current stage of dementia for their relative, and to plan for future care.

“Future care planning might include making adaptations to the home to support life-long care as a person’s symptoms change.

“The planning would need to start during early stages (Alison) to think about the quality of life and support (care needs) for Barry, Christine and David.”

The videos can be viewed at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/news- events/news/2018/may/video- to- help- identifydemenetia-care-needs/