Finally, a breakthrough: my application to present the Amelesia training programme at the 36th international conference held by Alzheimer’s Disease International – ADI – was accepted.
I am beyond delighted. This will be a recorded presentation. I hope to do justice to the people who played key roles in the development of the programme, especially the residential care home and the school who were the main players.
The conference will focus on several core themes within the field of research on Alzheimer’s and dementia. The theme for the Amelesia programme is ‘dementia awareness and friendliness’. Here is the abstract that I wrote for the application:
KRAKOW 2024 ABSTRACT
TITLE
Dementia awareness and friendliness: Presenting the Amelesia Training Programme. A Communicative Approach. Learn to hold sustained conversations with people living with dementia. Piloted in 2018 by 16-18 year-old students in England, this programme teaches current understanding of dementia with face-to-face workshops and visits to residents living in a care home.
ABSTRACT
The WHO’s 2017 exhortation that educational programmes be developed ‘to encourage dementia-friendly attitudes … targeting different groups … including students and teachers’ (Global Action Plan), coincided with the conception of the Amelesia programme, the result of linguistic analysis of conversations held with my mother who lived with dementia.
Underpinned by theories of communicative language learning – prompts, cues, questions that lead to appropriate responses, listening – students learned to hold sustained conversations with residents in a care home. All participant students said that everybody should do this programme. Here are two students’ comments (sic):
- I thought it was very helpful to learn how to talk with residents with dementia, especially as the disease is becoming more prevalent in society.
- It makes you aware of the different challenges dementia brings and teaches you how …. to understand the resident as a person…. to communicate with a person with dementia without being derogatory or insensitive while giving them control over the conversation.
The students’ teacher witnessed students’ development in ‘greater understanding of the challenges facing elderly people … their empathy and communication skills’.
The care home manager said that the students’ visits ‘made a visible difference to the residents’ lives … it has emphasised the importance of the feel-good moment enhancing residents’ well-being’.
The Amelesia programme fulfils the ADI’s call that ‘education must be improved and expanded … starting early in schools … (to) break stigma and encourage deeper understanding’ (World Alzheimer’s Report 2022).
A repeat of the pilot is planned for 2023-2024.
Image: Matt Barnard at Pexels.com