The IDoService project organised a webinar on “Designing support and social participation to foster wellbeing during the dementia journey” as part of Dementia Action Week, to raise awareness about dementia, and how to make societies more dementia-friendly and inclusive for all. Dementia Action Week is a national, annual event in the United Kingdom, organised by Alzheimer’s Society. This year's edition took place from 17-23 May.
This webinar offered the opportunity to think about how design can support people living with dementia and their loved ones. The programme brought together researchers, people with lived experience of dementia or caring, and a public and patient involvement manager. Discussions between panellists and attendees pointed out the need to stay fully involved in the community, in “everyday places”, and to actively participate in meaningful activities. Societies need to offer more inclusive opportunities - not necessarily dementia-labelled - to support and empower people living with dementia to participate meaningfully in and contribute to their families, social networks, neighbourhoods, and communities. Specific concerns arose during the Questions & Answer session on awareness in ethnic minority communities, regarding diagnosis and access to services and support.
The question "how to make our societies more dementia-friendly and inclusive for all?", which guided the webinar, was raised regularly by the 11 key stakeholders during the first 3 focus groups and follow-on interviews that were conducted by the IDoService project team in March and April. The next step will be to discuss the availability and accessibility of meaningful activities with people with dementia and their care partners, and the project expects the issue of awareness to surface, there, as well.
Alongside the project's Twitter account (@idoservice4dem1) and the website, the webinar opened another interactive way to engage in discussions related to the project. The detailed programme, as well as the webinar recording, are available on www.idoservice.org. The IDoService project builds on the interdisciplinary participative design approach, ideas of empowerment and social engagement developed during the European project MinD (2016-2020). For any questions or suggestions about The IDoService project and its activities, please do not hesitate to contact the research team at: idoservice@mmu.ac.uk
