Latest news on the DYNAMIC study
- By:
- Helen Young, DYNAMIC project researcher
- Published
- Tagged under:
- Research
The DYNAMIC study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research for Social Care (RfSC) Programme through grant NIHR204266. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Headlines
- Financial issues are a major concern for people who develop dementia at younger ages and their families.
- Better awareness of the social care needs of people with young onset dementia and their families could help avoid crises in care.
Aim of the DYNAMIC project
Young onset dementia is where symptoms develop below the age of 65. Due to their life stage, people have different needs to those who develop dementia later in life. For instance, they may have dependent children and a mortgage to pay. Social care provides support which helps someone to live their life as fully as possible, however, for people with young onset dementia and their families, we understand their needs are seldom met. Through the DYNAMIC project we aim to help improve this situation. Find further information on the DYNAMIC Project.
Progress so far
- We have spoken in-depth with 25 people with young onset dementia and/or their families about their needs and experiences of social care.
- 140 staff with current knowledge of social care in England have responded to our survey giving their views on social care for people with young onset dementia and their families.
From the survey and interviews, we identified 6 key areas that people with young onset dementia, family supporters and staff felt could be improved:
- Navigation and continuity of support.
- Person-centred and age-appropriate support
- Finance
- Raising awareness
- Peer support
- Support for children
Latest update
We held a stakeholder workshop in September involving equal numbers of people with lived experience and professional staff to help determine, from the 6 key areas, 2 or 3 main priorities to focus on for the rest of the project.
From listening to the stakeholders at the workshop, we have decided to focus on developing recommendations and resources to positively impact the following two areas:
- Raise awareness amongst social care staff about the social care needs of people with young onset dementia and their families.
- Young onset dementia can bring extra costs and affect the amount of money coming into the home. We want to improve strategies to help manage the financial impact of living with young onset dementia.
N.B. Within both these areas we plan to consider the needs of the South Asian population as well as the wider population.
Next steps
We will look for research evidence around best practice in these two areas and interview staff who work in services of relevant good practice.
Informed by this evidence, we will work with people living with young onset dementia, family supporters and social care staff to jointly develop resources or recommendations to influence improvements in these areas.
Check the Centre for Applied Dementia Studies webpages for more information about current and past research projects.