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The effectiveness of our courses
June 13, 2022
June 14, 2022
We are very pleased to share with you an article on the Dementia Carers Count Pilot evaluation, from the current edition of the Journal of Dementia Care:
As you will see this evaluation was first released in 2019 and related to our pilot 3-day courses, but as the foundation of our subsequent work it is very useful, and the article signposts our approaches having evolved.
The background
This study was focussed on 300+ people who attended practical courses developed by Dementia Carers Count (DCC) specifically to support those caring for a family member with dementia.
Husbands, wives, partners, daughters, sons, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law and grandchildren, spanning ages from 18 to 81 years rated the three day residential courses as five star, however DCC wanted to understand the impact of these courses and commissioned the University of Worcester to conduct a year-long evaluation.
Teresa Atkinson from the Association of Dementia Studies at the University of Worcester led this project.
The data
The data set came from:
- 12 DCC three-day courses from June 2018 – February 2019
- Of 117 attendees, 85 chose to participate in the research
- Participants could choose to complete questionnaires online or using booklets
Questions covered topics including:
Dementia Knowledge, Quality of Life, Distress, Health of Carers, Resilience
& Mental Well Being of Carers and some demographic data
Measures were taken at baseline, 3, 6 and (where possible) 12 months with telephone interviews three months after attending a course.
The findings
“Before I went on the course, I felt like I was drowning in a sea of treacle…now I feel completely different…better able to cope…I definitely do…I needed life skills to make it through each day”
The results showed that what set the high standard for education and training for family dementia carers in these three-day courses came from a unique and effective way to deliver knowledge:
- three day residential
- unique combination of skills from a strong team of practitioners
- opportunity for carers to focus on themselves
and for attendees:
- to feel safe and not alone
- to meet people in similar situations
- the opportunity to make and maintain new friends
Teresa’s report summarises the outcomes:
“Overall, both the quantitative and qualitative analysis demonstrate that attending the DCC Carers Support Courses has a positive impact on carers,…almost every outcome measure and sub-score saw an improvement. The improvement was maintained to some extent over time, and although was seen to ‘tail off’ in some cases the carers generally remained in a better physical, mental and emotional situation that they were before the courses. Overall, both the quantitative and qualitative analysis demonstrate that attending the DCC Carers Support Courses has a positive impact on carers.”
The report particularly highlights the DCC team’s ability to “make an emotionally fragile group feel safe and supported”.
The report goes on to look at the future for DCC courses including sustainability, spreading the word, perceived barriers to attendance and possible topics and groups for future courses and services; all of which will be fed in to service development alongside ongoing research led by Tracey Williamson, DCC Professor of Family Care in Dementia.
To read the full evaluation report by Worcester University please click here.
https://dementiacarers.org.uk/blog/do-you-have-feelings-of-guilt/
https://dementiacarers.org.uk/blog/happy-fathers-day-john-stiles/
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alzheimer's
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Research