Supporting People to Live Well with Dementia

Sarah McNicol has been a researcher since 2000, working on over 70 research and evaluation projects of differing scales within various universities and across a number of disciplines. She previously held roles as school librarian and as a tutor within the FE/adult education sector. Sarah has published widely within the information sector and beyond. Recently, her focus has been on supporting people with dementia and their carers. This has included co-creating a comic with a group of people with dementia; evaluating a shared reading programme for carers; and research into a bibliotherapy project operating in care homes.

• Introduction What is dementia?Types of dementiaStages of dementiaUnderstanding dementiaPotential impacts on the use of library servicesPerson-centred careConclusionsSupporting people living with dementia and their carers Social model of disabilitySupporting library customers with dementia and their carersSupport for library staff affected by dementiaTraining opportunitiesConclusionsLibrary design and environment Finding the libraryGetting around the libraryCase studies of dementia-friendly library designSensory spacesConclusion: maintaining dementia-friendly library designReading and DementiaDementia and imaginationDementia-friendly reading materialsReading activities for people with dementia and carersConclusionsHealth, social and arts activitiesHealth and therapy-informed activitiesActivities supporting social connectionsArts-related activitiesConclusionsDigital and online provisionOnline activity provision for people with dementiaOther technologies for people with dementiaOnline provision for carersConclusionsPartnership workingGeneral partnership schemesLibrary-specific partnership schemesConclusionsCommunications and marketingLanguage and terminologyDesign of communications materialsWorking with the media and other partnersConclusionsEvaluation and service developmentKey conceptsRecruiting participantsEvaluation and research methodsEthicsConclusionsFuture TrendsDemographic changesChanges in care provisionConclusion: future library provision for people with dementia and their carersSummary: Ten actions for dementia-friendly libraries