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www.alzheimers2013.com
and the potential long-term consequences of
these injuries for retired athletes is certainly
welcome, the community and particularly
athletes and parents of younger athletes need
to be provided with well-balanced information
which this paper sought to do. The research
is not yet conclusive, but the growing
body of research and anecdotal evidence
linking concussions and other head injuries
sustained in football to the development
of later life cognitive impairment is a cause
for concern for Alzheimer's Australia as the
peak body. This presentation will provide
an overview of the process of developing
the paper, our engagement with the four
major football codes, and the response to its
recommendations.
Chancellor 7
n
ReseaRch 2
dEmENtia CaFEs: aN EvaluatiON
OF tHEiR EFFECtivENEss iN
suPPORtiNg CaRERs OF PEOPlE
WitH dEmENtia
Stephanie Ingram, Vasikaran Naganathan, Jane
Palmer,
anne Tunks
Dementia Cafés provide an environment for
people with dementia and their carers to
come together for social support, leisure and
education. Anecdotal evidence of dementia
cafés run by Sydney Local Health District
(SLHD) has established that they provide a
positive experience for attendees. The focus
of this evaluation is to determine the key
elements of a café that contribute to quality
dementia care in the community and improve
outcomes for people with dementia and their
carers.
Carers who have attended a dementia café in
the SLHD in the past 12 months have been
asked to complete 3 questionnaires. One aims
to assess the impact of attending the cafés
on their experience of burden in relation to
caring for the person with dementia. A second
survey asks them to assess the quality of
life of the person with dementia and a third
seeks demographic information together with
their opinion about the value of the dementia
cafés. Carers will be asked to complete the
first two questionnaires again after 6 months,
to ascertain any changes in their perception of
burden and also any deterioration in the person
with dementia that may contribute to that
perception.
We anticipate that the information collected
will demonstrate an improvement in the level
of carer burden. We predict that if carer burden
is increased, this will correlate to deterioration
in the care recipient's level of functioning. This
study will help to formally establish guidelines
for how to improve outcomes for people with
dementia, their families and carers.
Grand Ballroom 3
n
LIBeRaTION
`it's gOOd tO talk tO sOmEONE
abOut tHEsE issuEs': FaCilitatiNg
sHaREd dECisiON makiNg WitH
PEOPlE WitH mCi/EaRly stagE
dEmENtia aNd tHEiR Family
CaREgivERs
G stockwell-smith¹ ², W Moyle²,
U Kellett², H Brodaty³
¹Anglican Diocese of Brisbane, Brisbane, QLD
²Health Practice Innovation, Griffith University,
Brisbane, QLD
³Primary Dementia Collaborative Research
Centre, Sydney, NSW
This presentation reports on the outcomes
from an innovative early-intervention for people
with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or a
diagnosis of early-stage dementia, and their
caregivers (the Dyad). The experiences and
outcomes of three participant dyads will be