Dr Fiona Jayne Marshall
Alzheimer's Society
United Kingdom
Scaling the Peaks; Understanding the barriers and drivers to providing and using dementia friendly community services in rural areas: the impact of location, cultures and community in the Peak District National Park on sustaining service innovations
Alzheimer's Society
378,420
01/11/15
4.0
Alzheimer's disease & other dementias
This mainly qualitative study examines the situation of people living with dementia in a remote rural area, investigating how the physical location, cultures and organisation interact to impact upon planning, delivery and access to community services. Existing scanty evidence suggests that rural areas often face unmet need: low rates of referral and diagnosis of dementia, and poor access to home care and other services.
The study will use geospatial mapping techniques to amalgamate visually the domains of geography, weather, service provision, access to services, and the projected locations of people living with dementia. This will help characterise the symbiotic relationships between terrain, migration, workforce configurations and dementia care.
Secondly, qualitative methods will be used to explore, longitudinally, the expectations and experiences of people with memory difficulties, family caregivers and professionals. Interviews with professionals will examine the challenges of rural dementia-friendly care provision. Using interview and digital recordings, the study will determine the shared and differing perceptions of care amongst two distinct user groups living with dementia; those living locally since birth and those moving as retirees to the area. Evidence suggests each group may face contrasting challenges in managing caregiving, accessing services and perceptions of need.
The study findings will be disseminated widely and used to inform the commissioners of rural services across health and social care, to educate professionals about dementia care and to support developing a toolkit to aid sustainable dementia-friendly care in community locations like family homes and community care centres.