THE COURSE
Understanding Dementia is designed to be accessible and appealing to people from diverse backgrounds including:
- Health professionals
- Community and residential facility support staff
- Health policymakers
- Social scientists
- People in the early stages of the disease, their families and carers
- Individuals with a general interest in dementia
Understanding Dementia addresses the foremost issues surrounding dementia, providing avenues for discussion and rich global networking opportunities to engage with this major international health issue. The course imparts knowledge to improve quality of life across the trajectory of dementia for people with the condition, their families and their carers.
Understanding Dementia provides an opportunity to engage with the perspectives of an international community, without requiring exams or assignments.
The course is divided into three main themes.
THE BRAIN
The Brain provides a background on basic nervous system anatomy and function, followed by a discussion of the diseases that cause dementia, current dementia research and future directions.
- Nervous system anatomy
- Anatomy with Body Central
- Pathology of Dementia
- Future directions of Research
THE DISEASES
The Diseases explores the differences between normal ageing and dementia, risk factors, symptoms of dementia, the issues surrounding diagnosis, as well as medical management.
- Difference between normal ageing and dementia
- Risk factors for dementia
- Domains of dementia
- Symptoms of advanced dementia
- Diagnosis of dementia
- Medical management
THE PERSON
The Person addresses the difficulties in recognising symptoms, living with dementia, progression and staging, palliation, behaviours, management and alternative therapies.
- Insidious onset of dementia
- Living with dementia
- Dementia progression and staging
- Dementia palliation
- Dementia behaviours
- Alternative therapies