Project Details
Description
The University of Brighton collaborated with the Alzheimer’s Society for a number of years. The external evaluation of the Live Well with dementia programme (formerly known as the Self Care Programme for People with Dementia) built on previous work carried out by the University evaluation team. This included the External Evaluation of the Alzheimer’s Society Carer Information and Support Programme (CrISP) (Barnes et al 2013; Barnes and Henwood, 2015). The external evaluation of the Live Well with dementia programme, commenced on 1st December 2013 and concluded on 31st March 2017.
‘The Live Well with dementia programme aims to the help people with early stage dementia develop the understanding, skills and practical tools to empower and support them to take an active role in the management of their health and well-being. It is based on self-management principles’ (Alzheimer’s Society 2016).
The programme built on content provided by Self-Management UK and was reworked through a process of ‘co-design’ with people with dementia and Alzheimer’s Society staff involved in developing and delivering the programme.
The external evaluation ran alongside programme development and delivery. It comprised two main parts: evaluation of the co-design process and evaluation of programme delivery. The data collected at each stage was presented to the Alzheimer’s Society with the aim of enabling the Society to consider our findings and recommendations alongside those from their internal evaluation and to amend the programme where appropriate. The evaluation sought to influence the development of the programme and therefore adopted an approach based on the principles of action research- encouraging both the development of knowledge and its practical application. The evaluation incorporated feedback from participants, facilitators, carers (where appropriate) and from the research team itself. This was fed back to Alzheimer’s Society staff who subsequently revised and reworked the programme. The ongoing relationship, at all stages, between the University evaluation team and Alzheimer’s Society staff was crucial to the successful development of the programme.
‘The Live Well with dementia programme aims to the help people with early stage dementia develop the understanding, skills and practical tools to empower and support them to take an active role in the management of their health and well-being. It is based on self-management principles’ (Alzheimer’s Society 2016).
The programme built on content provided by Self-Management UK and was reworked through a process of ‘co-design’ with people with dementia and Alzheimer’s Society staff involved in developing and delivering the programme.
The external evaluation ran alongside programme development and delivery. It comprised two main parts: evaluation of the co-design process and evaluation of programme delivery. The data collected at each stage was presented to the Alzheimer’s Society with the aim of enabling the Society to consider our findings and recommendations alongside those from their internal evaluation and to amend the programme where appropriate. The evaluation sought to influence the development of the programme and therefore adopted an approach based on the principles of action research- encouraging both the development of knowledge and its practical application. The evaluation incorporated feedback from participants, facilitators, carers (where appropriate) and from the research team itself. This was fed back to Alzheimer’s Society staff who subsequently revised and reworked the programme. The ongoing relationship, at all stages, between the University evaluation team and Alzheimer’s Society staff was crucial to the successful development of the programme.
Key findings
The evaluation ran alongside the development timetable of the programme and feedback was provided to the Alzheimer’s Society (AS) at various stages of its design, development and delivery. An interim report on the co-design phase was submitted to the AS in July 2014.
A literature review which was undertaken by the research team on ‘Self-care, self-management and dementia’ in 2013 (updated in 2014) and also informed the development of the programme and will also inform future publications.
The final report giving an overview of the evaluation was published in March 2017.
A literature review which was undertaken by the research team on ‘Self-care, self-management and dementia’ in 2013 (updated in 2014) and also informed the development of the programme and will also inform future publications.
The final report giving an overview of the evaluation was published in March 2017.
| Status | Finished |
|---|---|
| Effective start/end date | 1/10/13 → 31/03/17 |
Funding
- Alzheimers Society
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