An Evaluation of Shared Reading Groups for Adults Living with Dementia: Preliminary Findings

Purpose – Although there is a growing evidence base for the value of psychosocial and arts based strategies for enhancing wellbeing amongst adults living with dementia, relatively little attention has been paid to literature-based interventions. This service evaluation assesses the impact of Shared Reading (SR) groups, a programme developed and implemented by The Reader Organisation, on quality of life for care home residents with mild/moderate dementia. Design/methodology/approach – Thirty one individuals were recruited from four care homes, which were randomly assigned to either reading-waiting groups (three months reading, followed by three months no reading) or waiting-reading groups (three months no reading, followed by three months reading). Quality of life was assessed by the DEMQOLProxy and psychopathological symptoms were assessed by the NPI-Q. Findings – Compared to the waiting condition, the positive effects of SR on quality of life were demonstrated at the commencement of the reading groups and were maintained once the activity ended. Low levels of baseline symptoms prevented analyses on whether the intervention impacted on the clinical signs of dementia. Limitations – Limitations included the small sample and lack of control for confounding variables. Originality/value – The therapeutic potential of reading groups is discussed as a positive and practical intervention for older adults living with dementia

Community-campus partnerships for economic development: community perspectives

Formal collaborations between community groups and academic institutions to promote economic development have increased substantially over the past 10 years. The bulk of research on community-campus partnerships has focused on the experiences of institutions of higher learning and the foundations that have funded the collaborations, leaving a gap in our understanding of community experiences. This report draws on a variety of sources, including first-person interviews and academic literature, to bring out community perspectives on what makes for successful partnerships. The conclusions are presented as practical suggestions for community groups and campuses seeking to optimize partnerships. Four case studies describe lessons learned by participating community groups.Community development ; Universities and colleges

Achieving urban food and nutrition security in the developing world:

CONTENTS: Brief 1. Overview / James L. Garrett Brief 2. An urbanizing world / Martin Brockerhoff Brief 3. Rural-urban interdependence / Ceclia Tacoli Brief 4. Urban livelihoods and labor markets / Arjan de Haan Brief 5. Feeding the cities: food supply and distribution / Olivio Argenti Brief 6. The hidden significance of urban agriculture / Luc J.A. Mougeot Brief 7. Urbanization and the nutrition transition / Barry M. Popkin Brief 8. Urban women: balancing work and childcare / Patrice L. Engle Brief 9. Threats to urban health / Carolyn Stephens Brief 10. Programming for urban food and nutrition security / Timothy R. Frankenberger, James L. Garrett, and Jeanne Downen.Food supply, food security, Livelihoods, Urban programming,

Trendswatch 2013: Back to the Future

TrendsWatch 2013 highlights six trends that CFM's staff and advisors believe are highly significant to museums and their communities, based on our scanning and analysis over the past year. For each trend, we provide a brief summary, list examples of how the trend is playing out in the world, comment on the trend's significance to society and to museums specifically, and suggest ways that museums might respond. We also provide links to additional readings. TrendsWatch provides valuable background and context for your museum's planning and implementation

Co-refining interactive systems with older adults from function, form and interaction

Designing interactive systems that are pragmatic, attractive and easy to use for older adults is challenging. Participatory design, as an approach to enhance the mutual understanding between designers and end users, has been proved to be useful to improve the quality of design for older people. However, PD research has long been criticized for extensively dealing with the early-phase design while putting less emphasis on the later stages. In this paper, we argue for the importance of collaborative refinement when designing interactive systems for older adults. Through a case study, we describe our experience of co-refining the preliminary design of an interactive system with older participants from three perspectives: function, form and interaction. We also explored to adopt some potential PD methods and conclude by discussing the effectiveness of the chosen approach and methods

Knowledge Management As an Economic Development Strategy

The United States is shifting to an information economy. Productive capability is no longer completely dependent on capital and equipment; information and knowledge assets are increasingly important. The result is a new challenge to the practice of local economic development. In this information economy, success comes from harnessing the information and knowledge assets of a community and from helping local businesses succeed in the new environment. Knowledge Management (KM) can provide the tools to help economic development practitioners accomplish that task. KM is a set of techniques and tools to uncover and utilize information and knowledge assets -- especially tacit knowledge. Economic development organizations can use KM tools to enhance external communications of local companies including marketing and to promote internal communications within local businesses and help companies capture tacit knowledge. More importantly, they can use those tools to uncover and develop local intellectual assets, including helping develop information products, and helping identify entrepreneurial and business opportunities. KM tools are also useful in developing local economic clusters. Finally, these tools can be used to enhance external knowledge sharing among the economic development community and to capture and share tacit knowledge within an economic development organization

Intergenerational Service Topic Bibliography

This topic bibliography is produced in response to numerous requests from service and education practitioners for information on intergenerational issues and programs. Additional records have been added in this most recent revision. The primary source for the below citations and annotations is the Eduational Resources Information Center\u27s (ERIC) database of Resources In Education and Current Index to Journals in Education. This material is supplemented by references from a draft bibliography by Generations United as well as some resources abstracted by the National Information Center for Service-Learning. Records from each source are indicated by ERIC, GU, and NICSL, respectively, following the abstract