Studies
Current
Professor Martin Orrell leads two NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research that are now based in Nottingham:
- PRIDE (Promoting Independence in Dementia) aims to identify how social and lifestyle changes may help reduce the risk of developing dementia and disability. The researchers will develop and evaluate an effective social intervention (e.g. physical activity, use of computers) to support independence and quality of life for people with early stage dementia and their carers.
- AQUEDUCT (Achieving Quality and Effectiveness in Dementia Using Crisis Teams) will develop a resource kit for dementia crisis trials and perform an RCT to investigate if the resource kit has better outcomes in terms of hospital admissions, quality of life and costs.
Professor Justine Schneider, Professor Nick Manning, Dr Kristian Pollock, Dr Cheryl Travers, Dr Kezia Scales and Dr Tony Kelly are involved in an SSCR funded study called BOUGH (Broadening our Understanding of Good Homecare), designed to understand the scope and nature of good quality home care for people with dementia, so that it can be more widely implemented.
Dr Elaine Argyle and Tony Kelly have been working with Nottingham City Council’s Dementia Practice Development Specialist, the jackdaw homecare team and JoCo Learning and Development to evaluate a musical intervention, developed by Musicworks, for people with dementia called ‘Soundtrack to My Life’.
The NIHR MindTech Healthcare Technology co-operative, hosted by the Institute of Mental Health, is the only one in the UK to focus on mental health. Related projects include CASA (home-based technology for carers and people with dementia) and KuPA (software supporting activity planning and wellbeing assessment).
TheNIHR-funded ‘Optimal: Better Health for Care Homes’ is a multi-centre study, co-ordinated locally by Dr Maria Zubair (supervised by Professor Dening), which aims to highlight the key features of service delivery which have worked. Findings from the study will inform commissioners how best to provide services to care homes in future.
Professor Rowan Harwood (project lead) is involved in an NIHR programme development grant called ‘Balance and the Mind’ forming the basis of a larger bid which aims to develop and test a new approach to preventing falls in people with dementia.
Dementia and Imagination is a three-year interdisciplinary project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Connected Communities programme. It is led by Dr Gillian Windle (Bangor University) with a team of investigators at the University of Newcastle, the University of Nottingham, City University, and MMU. Nottingham Contemporary is a partner in the project, alongside Age Watch and Baltic.
Dr Elaine Argyleand Dr Neil Chadborn: An Evaluation of the use of Museum Resources for Care Home Residents with Dementia.
Professors Tom Dening and Justine Schneider are involved in a project called Imagine Arts, together with Nottingham City Arts, Nottingham City Council and the Abbeyfield Society. The project is about providing care home residents with quality arts experiences, and is one of four in England funded by the Arts Council and the Baring Foundation.
Public Heath England have funded Professors Amanda Griffiths and Tom Dening to explore the needs of employers with regard to the management of working age dementia.
Dr Fiona Marshall holds an Alzheimer’s Society postdoctoral fellowship for a study entitled ‘Scaling the Peaks’, which is looking at services for people living with dementia in a rural area (the Derbyshire Peak).
Past
Home Support for People with Dementia: Developing a Fidelity Index
This study aims to develop an evidence based service template, specifying the appropriate approaches for home support teams, and a measuring tool (a 'fidelity index') that service managers can use to self assess critical components of service delivery.