Timeline
January 2024 – June 2024
The concept of Dementia Friendly Communities (DFCs) is becoming popular worldwide, as communities, organizations, and policy makers work to make our society a place where people living with dementia can live in comfort, strive for wellbeing, and feel connected to others. However, people with dementia who live alone have not really been included in conversations about and planning for DFCs. This is a significant gap, especially since people with dementia who live alone are a growing group of people. This project aimed to address this gap, and to include people with dementia who live independently, in co-designing an Action Plan to inform future planning of DFCs.
The Action Group comprised of 8 members living independently with dementia in community settings across British Columbia, co-led by University of Victoria Researcher Mariko Sakamoto and a dementia advocate with lived experience, Lynn Jackson. Six co-design workshops were held via Zoom in the spring and summer of 2024. The goal was to create an Action Plan to inform planning of dementia friendly communities. To support the co-design process within the Action Group, 2 Health Design Lab research assistants supported the design of the workshop engagement materials and co-facilitated the gathering. This collaborative process ensured the project was guided by the insights and needs of those directly affected by dementia.
Early discussions focused on defining “independence” and “dementia-friendly”. Using co-design methods, Action Group members contributed to the development of a “tree” to visualize what they need and value in a dementia-friendly community.
This project resulted in the creation of the “Dementia Friendly Community Action Plan: Bringing to the Fore the Perspectives and Needs of People with Dementia Who Live Independently”. The Action Plan includes a detailed description of the workshops themselves, as well as themes that were identified by Action Group members as important to dementia-friendly communities.
Based on our conversations with the Action Group, we learned that the following elements are valuable when living with dementia independently:
Further we learned that a dementia friendly community is a key element that further enables people with dementia to thrive while living independently. To live independently, people with dementia need to rely on their community for support. Communities should seek to disrupt stigma at all levels (self, social, structural), as addressing the stigma that people with dementia often face can reduce isolation and improve their quality of life.
