Promoting Brain Health amongst dementia carers

A quality improvement project conducted as part of the Dementia Academy 'Mild cognitive impairment virtual course' which ran from March-September 2021.

Background

Promoting brain health through education and lifestyle modification is an essential element of reducing the prevalence and impact of cognitive impairment, including MCI and dementia (Leroi et al, 2020).

Clinical Deficit

Carers of people with dementia often tell Dementia Carers Count (DCC) about the challenges they have with their own cognition, particularly in relation to the stress, lack of sleep or other difficulties involved in caring for someone with dementia.

Aims of intervention

To use an existing platform to provide information in a range of forms, styles, and media, via the Dementia Carers Count website, to educate, inform and support people caring for someone with dementia to understand how to prioritise their own brain health.

Methodology

To create and publish additional resources within a new online platform 'the Virtual Carer's Centre', within two of the six themed portals: 'the brain' and 'health promotion' addressing areas of brain health.

Results

A wide range of resources have been developed and are available in written copy, animations and recorded spoken videos, separated into two distinct portals of the virtual platform:

• 'the brain' includes information on what MCI is and changes in the brain with aging

• 'health promotion' includes information around lifestyle modifications to promote brain health, including diet, physical and mental activity, relaxation, sleep, breathwork, social connections and more.

A formal launch took place in November 2021 and all the resources can be found at https://dementiacarers.org.uk/vcc/all-posts/

Outcomes

Testing has gone on throughout the development of the Virtual Carers Centre platform and will continue through the soft launch in September and the full launch in the Autumn.