Dementia Australia is creating dementia Communities of practice for people working in residential and community aged care with a shared desire to transform dementia care and improve practice.
With over 459,000 people in Australia living with dementia, there is a growing need for high quality dementia care. The coronavirus (COVID-19) has highlighted gaps in education and practice – reinforcing the need for a dedicated space for aged care professionals to work collaboratively towards improving dementia care.
Dementia Australia invites you to be part of the change and participate in a study to evaluate whether online Communities of practice and education can lead to better practices in dementia care. The evaluation will be conducted by Swinburne University.
Options and benefits
As part of an online dementia Community of practice you will:
- develop a network of mutual support through regular interactions with other members over the eight months of the study
- participate in virtual classrooms (two hours each) and receive training in:
- Supporting behaviour changes during the COVID-19 restrictions
- Engaging and connecting with people living with dementia through COVID-19
- share knowledge and gain information about dementia care during online meetings (two hours a month) and through participation in online forum (min. two hours a month)
- have online access to ongoing education and up-to-date resources
- learn about new and emerging improvements in dementia care
- receive support on how to implement change.
As part of the online education group you will:
- participate in virtual classrooms (two hours each) and receive training in:
- Supporting behaviour changes during the COVID-19 restrictions
- Engaging and connecting with people living with dementia through COVID-19.
To be eligible to participate, you must:
- be 18+ years of age
- have sufficient English skills to complete study activities
- have completed at least 18 hours of foundational training in dementia care (e.g., Dementia Essentials, online training in dementia care, or similar) in the past two years
- be working in residential or community aged care in a role that provides capacity to implement change and be able to identify goals for improving practice
- anticipate no objection from your organisation to you participating in the pilot program.