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UCL and HKU deliver dementia therapy virtually
22 May 2020
UCL and HKU collaborated to deliver Cognitive Stimulation Therapy to people with dementia over Zoom during COVID-19
People with dementia and their families were one of the groups hit hardest by the Covid-19 crisis. To keep people with dementia engaged and supported during lockdown, Professor Aimee Spector (UCL Department of Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology) worked closely with colleagues at Hong Kong University (HKU) to test the virtual delivery of Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) to patients in their homes.
CST was developed at UCL by Professor Spector and was the main and often only therapy offered to people with dementia by the NHS. It involved group therapy sessions, typically run twice weekly, aimed at actively stimulating patients to maintain cognition, while providing an optimal learning environment and social benefits. However, during the lockdown in the UK, CST services were unable to run.
Many people with dementia were left with limited support and did not understand what was happening or why there was a need to social distance. The vast majority of people with dementia, and the family members who looked after them, were over the age of 65, often with co-morbid health problems. This meant they were likely to be among the last to resume social contact and get the health and social support they needed.
In response to the clinical service gap and the need to keep people with dementia engaged whilst remaining safe at home, Professor Spector and Assistant Professor Gloria Wong (HKU Department of Social Work and Social Administration) worked to launch virtual CST groups through Zoom. Assistant Professor Wong led the FaceCog study in Hong Kong, a two-year funded programme testing the feasibility of delivering CST virtually, while UCL looked to rapidly begin a partner project to deliver FaceCog in the UK.
This marked the latest collaboration in the partnership between UCL and HKU, who led innovations in non-pharmacological interventions for dementia, with initial funding from UCL Grand Challenges. While awaiting the development of new drugs that could eventually help the growing number of people affected by dementia, clinical and social sciences researchers at UCL and HKU, as well as Peking University (PKU) in Beijing, used CST to tackle the issue.
In the video below, UCL’s Professor Aimee Spector and HKU’s Assistant Professor Gloria Wong explained how they worked together to develop CST to help maintain cognition and wellbeing in people with dementia.
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