{"id":2215,"date":"2026-08-13T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askneurology.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/13\/building-a-more-dementia-aware-university-a-collaborative-approach\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T14:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T14:30:00","slug":"building-a-more-dementia-aware-university-a-collaborative-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askneurology.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/13\/building-a-more-dementia-aware-university-a-collaborative-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a More Dementia-Aware University: A Collaborative Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week Dr Chris Russell<\/a> writes about a new course being developed here at the University of Worcester\u2026<\/p>\n

What does it take to create a university where everyone has a better understanding of dementia?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the University of Worcester, that question has inspired an exciting piece of work to develop a new dementia awareness course for students and staff. Led by us here at the Association for Dementia Studies (ADS<\/a>), the initiative recognises a simple reality: dementia touches far more lives than we often realise.<\/p>\n

Many students and staff will have a friend, relative, neighbour or colleague living with dementia. Others may be supporting someone in a caring role. Some may be in the early stages themselves. Yet, despite dementia being such a significant part of modern society, there has not previously been a consistent way of ensuring that everyone across the university develops a core understanding of it. Our hope is that developing a short online course will help the university community to become more dementia-aware.<\/p>\n

Rather than designing a course behind closed doors, the ADS team chose a co-production approach. An initial survey of staff and students showed strong support for the idea at the university and helped identify the topics people felt were most important. From there, a steering group was formed, bringing together students, staff and people with lived experience of dementia.<\/p>\n

Their message was clear: keep things practical, relevant and easy to understand. Avoid overwhelming learners with information, steer clear of jargon and make the course flexible enough for people to explore topics at their own pace. The group also highlighted the importance of recognising carers, challenging stereotypes and showing that dementia is about more than memory loss.<\/p>\n

Students involved in the group spoke passionately about wanting to reduce stigma, support carers and help create more compassionate communities. Many felt that greater awareness would not only benefit healthcare students on placement but would also help all students better understand the experiences of people around them.<\/p>\n

The overall aim is straightforward but ambitious: to help create a dementia-aware and supportive university community. The course will increase awareness, challenge common misconceptions and signpost people to sources of help and support.<\/p>\n

The first version of the online course has now been completed and shared with the steering group for feedback. Following further refinements, it will be launched across the university later this year, with ongoing evaluation helping to ensure it continues to meet the needs of learners.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, this work is about one simple question: if dementia were to affect someone you love, how would you want them to be treated? The answer could help shape a kinder, more understanding community for everyone.<\/p>\n

Connect with ADS on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a>,\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn,<\/a>\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week Dr Chris Russell writes about a new course being developed here at the University of Worcester\u2026 What does […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dementia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/askneurology.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/askneurology.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/askneurology.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askneurology.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askneurology.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/askneurology.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/askneurology.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askneurology.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askneurology.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}