Minister visits UCL to discuss supporting people living with dementia to live well at home

The minister met with researchers from UCL Alzheimer’s Society Centre of Excellence (based in the Division of Psychiatry) to learn more about the work of the New Interventions for Independence at Home Study (NIDUS).

The researchers have used preliminary findings to develop two interventions – one for family carers (NIDUS-family) and one for paid home carers (NIDUS-professionals).

“Most people with dementia want to remain living in their homes. At the UCL Alzheimer’s Society Centre of Excellence our vision is to enable them to retain and extend their independence at home as far as possible, and have a good quality of life,” said the study’s chief investigator, Professor Claudia Cooper.

“We’re one year into our five-year study. We have looked at how family carers and paid home care workers collaborate to support people living with dementia and explore why these relationships sometimes break down.

“We’re delighted that Caroline Dinenage MP is interested in the work we are doing and came to UCL to see us training our team to deliver our new support programme that we have designed,” she said.

The visit, coordinated by the Alzheimer’s Society, involved discussion about local initiatives for reducing social isolation among older adults and the importance of maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle.

The minister observed a clinical supervision session where the research assistants who are being trained on delivering the NIDUS-family intervention presented case studies of people living with dementia, and described how they would go about setting goals with the person and their family carer.

Minister for Care Caroline Dinenage said: “Research into helping people live well with dementia is vital to help them remain in their communities. The researchers at UCL’s Division of Psychiatry are doing brilliant work testing methods of support centred on people and their carers’ individual goals.

“Ambitions can be as simple as being able to go to church club or have people round for dinner, but interventions to enable this can keep people living independently and happily at home for longer. This kind of personalised care can transform people’s lives.”

NIDUS programme manager, Alexandra Burton said early findings of the study suggest that care that is delivered at home, tailored to people’s individual needs and focusses on staying active and supporting people to carry out daily activities works best.

“We are now ready to begin piloting the intervention with 15 family carers and their relatives with dementia in London and Bradford, before starting our trial involving 300 family carers and people living with dementia early next year.”

The study is being conducted in collaboration with the University of Bradford, King’s College London, University of Exeter, and the University of Reading. Researchers will present their emerging findings in Los Angeles in July this year, followed by a workshop in Tokyo in November.

Links

• UCL Division of Psychiatry  
• Professor Claudia Cooper  
• Alexandra Burton
• Alzheimer’s Society  
• University College London: The NIDUS project  
• UCL - Mental Health of Older People Department