Researchers at Stirling University are keen to engage with those living with dementia and their carers within Perth and Kinross.

The aim of our work is to find out how neighbourhoods and local communities can support people with dementia to remain socially and physically active. We will work closely with people with dementia and their carers to find out what their neighbourhood means to them, the different ways it supports them, and what could be changed to make life better.

What does the research involve?

In the first phase of the research we will spend time with people with dementia and their carers asking them to show us around their neighbourhood and to tell us about the people in their lives who help them out. We want to find out how a person’s situation changes over time so our plan is to revisit the same people after 6-12 months to talk to them again.

Once we have gathered the information from the research the next stage will involve working with local dementia care practitioners and organisations alongside people with dementia and their carers to design a neighbourhood-based approach to support these groups. For this intervention we hope to involve a wide range of local groups, organisations and companies. We will closely monitor progress and evaluate the intervention to find out what impact it has.

The research will lead to the development of locally-tailored projects which will support community engagement for people living with dementia, their carers and supporters.

For more information please follow the links below.

• http://www.neighbourhoodsanddementia.org
• http://www.neighbourhoodsanddementia.org/work-programme-4-description/
• http://dementia.stir.ac.uk/blogs/dementia-centred/2016-02-03/neighbourhoods-our-people-our-places 

You can contact one of the researchers at kirsty.alexander3@stir.ac.uk for more information.