Understanding And Managing Dementia

UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING DEMENTIA

Associate Professor Marguerite Schneider, Roxanne Jacobs, University of Cape Town; Dr Rayne Stroebel, GERATEC; Siphokazi Sompeta, Ikamva Labantu

Monday 16–Tuesday 17 January

11.15 am

COURSE FEES R220

Dementia is major cause of disability amongst older persons worldwide, with those sixty-five years and older being most at risk. With a worldwide increase in longevity and aging populations, dementia is expected to increase, becoming a global public health concern especially for low- and middle-income countries where poor service provision, health systems and care systems are threatening the quality of life for persons living with dementia and their families. In the first lecture we present findings from the recent study – Strengthening responses to dementia in developing countries – that provide a macro perspective of the current situation of dementia care in South Africa. We contextualise these South African findings within a global context. The second lecture takes a more practical and individual person approach where we consider cultural aspects, well-being in dementia, communication strategies and seeing the person behind the diagnosis.

Lecture titles

1. Dementia care

2. Understanding the person living with dementia

Recommended reading

Jacobs, R. et al. 2022. ‘Stigma and its implications for dementia in South Africa: A multi-stakeholder exploratory study’. Ageing & Society. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X2200040X

Farina, N. et al. 2022. ‘Description of the cross-cultural process adopted in the STRIDE (Strengthening Responses to dementia in Developing countries) program: A methodological overview’. Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring. https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.12293

De Jager, C., Msemburi, W., Pepper, K. and Combrinck, M. 2017. Dementia Prevalence in a Rural Region of South Africa: A Cross-Sectional Community Study. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 60(3), 1087–96.

De Vries, K. 2013. Communicating with older people with dementia. Nursing Older People. 25(4), 30–37.

Rahman, S. and Swaffer, K. 2018. Assets-based approaches and dementia-friendly communities. Dementia, 17(2), 131–137. https://doi.org/10.1177/1471301217751533

4. Participants will earn 2 CPD points for this course.

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Roxanne Jacobs is a research officer at the Alan J. Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health at the University of Cape Town. With a background in research psychology, she has worked as a researcher on the STRIDE South African team and completed work-packages on (a) stigma and dementia; (b) a household survey on prevalence, social impact and cost of dementia; and (c) an in-depth situational analysis describing care and support provisions for people living with dementia in South Africa.

Marguerite Schneider (PhD) is a retired associate professor from the Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health, University of Cape Town. Her early career was in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology before moving into broader social science research focusing on disability studies and mental health. She led the South African work on the STRiDE project which looks at strengthening responses to dementia in developing countries

Rayne Stroebel (PhD) is the owner of GERATEC (Gerontological Research, Training, Education and Caring), a company that provides services to the long-term care sector for older people over the past 27 years. As the founder of The Eden Alternative in South Africa, he has worked in the field of culture change, trying to improve the quality of life of older people and people living with dementia.

Siphokazi Sompeta (MSc Occupational Therapy) is currently employed as an Occupational Therapist at Ikamva Labantu, at Enkulekweni Wellness Centre, in the Seniors Programme. Earlier on has worked in Community Based Rehabilitation, has also worked in Special Needs with disabled children. She has been also been involved in the Disability Sector. I have also lectured in Rehabilitation and Disablity Studies. I have been also been the Chairpersons of Africa Community Based Rehabilitation Network. Now I am working with Older Persons Rights, with an interest of on Cultural Interpretations of Dementia.