Blog Authors: John McVeigh, Fiona Balloch, David Cullen, Jan Robertson, Lisa Shields, Joe Wilson, Paolo Monachello, Tracey Howe
Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash
With the steep increase in numbers of people living with Dementia – 93,000 in Scotland (Scottish Government 2016), the need for not only more support but stronger support networks for individuals and their carers needs to grow alongside this. City of Glasgow College is exploring the notion of creating a dementia café. To give some insight into this we looked at A qualitative study of carers’ experiences of dementia cafés: a place to feel supported and be yourself published in BMC Geriatrics in 2017.
Here’s what they did. This is a qualitative study of carers’ experiences of Dementia Cafés using semi-structured interviews of 11 carers from 5 dementia cafés in and around London. Interviews lasted an average of 42 minutes and all but one interview was carried out in their home. The interviews were digitally recorded, then transcribed and anonymised before being coded. From these, four themes emerged and were evidenced and supported by direct quotes from the participants.
Here’s what they found
Four Themes
- Cafés provide a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere where carers feel supported and accepted.
- Café attendance often brought a sense of normality to these carers’ lives.
- Carers and those they care for look forward to going and often enjoy both the activities provided and socialising with others.
- Other benefits included peer support from other carers, information provision and support from the volunteer café coordinators.
The author/s concluded
- Dementia cafés appear to be a valuable, perhaps unique form of support for carers giving them brief respite from their caring role.
- Future research incorporating mixed methods is needed to understand the perspectives of those living with dementia.
Our Journal Club’s views
Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? At the time of publication, the main author Nan Greenwood worked at Kingston University and St George’s London as the associate professor within the Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education. Having worked in this field for over 20 years and having many papers published in this time, our view is that this author has validity.
What do we know about the journal? The journal BMC Geriatrics is an Open Access Journal which publishes original peer reviewed research articles and has an Impact Factor of 2.818 this is then gives us our view it is a reputable journal.
What about the methodology used? As the purpose of this study was an in-depth exploration of carers experiences qualitative methodology is appropriate. Potential dementia cafes were identified by a combination of internet searches and ‘snowballing’. Convenience sampling was used and no incentives were given. Data was collected and analysed by three experienced researchers which gives more rigour to the study. Interviews took place in familiar settings, mainly own home. The use of the table to show the demographic was felt to be a good addition to the paper as this highlighted some limitations with the sample e.g. ethnic background mainly white, family members. Other limitations included sample size of cafes, only 5, no interviews with people who no longer attended.
Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a low risk of bias.
Implications for our practice
As a local College as well as being the biggest building in the street could (and should?) be a part of the local community. Having a Dementia café within the College would not only bolster the relationship with the local community but also give many learning opportunities to both our students and staff within the College. How can we move this forward to make the college Dementia friendly and a by-product of this make the College age and people friendly?
For us a College to look at projects that can bring us into the local community and help support individuals living with dementia while making the College an accessible place with trained staff that people want to come along to and enjoy being here.
Open table discussion around the library provision within the College and the access to books, journals and research papers. The College is looking to expand its library content as well as making it more accessible for everyone. This is a project between the library and the IT Department to look at the Library guide and its expansion and accessibility.
Next steps
We agreed to
- Organise Dementia Friends training available to all staff.
- Determine where dementia as a topic is present in our current educational profile.
View from
It is wonderful to see the development of Dementia Friends across the staff and students in the College, I suspect that few students future careers will not in some way have the ability to help influence and shape the world that people with dementia live in. From directly supporting people, to designing our communities, developing policy and shaping our society, students hold the future in their hands and as educators you are helping build this. Learning now how we all can play a part in the lives of people with dementia and their families by taking part in Dementia Friends sessions I hope will light a spark of future ongoing commitment, innovation and contribution. Well done.
Henry Simmons, Chief Executive, Alzheimer Scotland
What do you think?
We would love to hear your views on any of these comments.
I think it is good that the college wants to be part of the community but the comment that the building is the largest in the area would give me concern about its use as a Dementia Café as perhaps the sheer size would be overwhelming if a carer attended with the person they assist. Also, a lot of young students buzzing around may not make it the most relaxing environment. Having said that, this comes from a person with no medical / technical knowledge of dementia
References
- Greenwood, N. et al. (2017) ‘A qualitative study of carers’ experiences of dementia cafés: A place to feel supported and be yourself’, BMC Geriatrics. BioMed Central Ltd., 17(1), p. 164. doi: 10.1186/s12877-017-0559-4.
- Scottish Government (2016) Estimated and Projected Diagnosis Rates for Dementia in Scotland: 2014-2020
Keywords: Dementia, dementia café, qualitative, interviews, carers, experience
Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.
Our Journal Club’s views