I'm not all gone, I can still speak: the experiences of younger people with dementia: an action research study

In this study we explored the experiences of younger people with dementia (age 60–67 years) using an action research methodology across three phases. Phase One involved interviews with participants (n = 8). Phases Two (n = 5) and Three (n = 4) consisted of two action research groups. Thematic analysis highlighted few difficulties commonly associated with younger people with dementia (e.g. loss of employment). Participants highlighted a need for social support from a variety of sources as well as the opportunity to develop a shared social identity and a focus on remaining strengths. The ‘action’ (Phase Three) comprised a leaflet written by participants for other people with dementia. The findings suggest there is a need for people with dementia to receive information from people who have experienced dementia and for that information to foster a sense of hope and resilience. Furthermore, the findings support the use of action research methodologies with people with dementia

Do Celebrity Politics and Celebrity Politicians Matter?

This article asks what it means to take celebrity politics seriously. It does so from three perspectives. It begins by looking at the case of New Labour and the role that celebrity politics played in party political communication and in government policy-making. It places both in the context of New Labour’s cultural policy more broadly. This leads to a second perspective, in which the focus is upon how celebrity politics might be seen within social and political change more generally. A contrast is drawn between the ‘late modernity’ approach adopted by David Marsh and his colleagues, and the media-oriented approach adopted by Aeron Davis. Both approaches, it is suggested, invite a turn to empirical investigation, and the article’s final section reviews existing research into celebrity politics, and argues for more emphasis on (a) cross national comparison of forms of celebrity politics, and (b) audience perceptions of celebrity politicians, going beyond the current focus on large scale surveys and experimentation

Supportive living environments: a first concept of a dwelling designed for older adults with dementia

The vast majority of older adults want to remain living independently at home, with or without a sufficient amount of professional home care, even when overall health is starting to decline. The ageing of society and the increase in the number of very old elders goes together with an increase in the number of people with dementia. About two thirds of the diagnosed people in the Netherlands live at home. Dementia has severe implications to the quality of daily life, in particular to independent functioning. This sets extra demands to living environments. Older adults with dementia and their partners ask for living environments that support independence, compensate for declining vitality, and lower the burden of family care. For this purpose, a first concept of a design for a dementia dwelling is presented in this paper, which incorporates modifications in terms of architecture, interior design, the indoor environment, and technological solutions. These design features were derived from literature search and focus group sessions. Current design guidelines are frequently based on practical experience only, and therefore, more systematic field research should be carried out to find evidence for the various design modifications. Also, it needs to be studied how the design features of the dementia dwelling can be incorporated into the existing housing stock