It’s very early days, but we can tell you there is a high degree of interest across Tasmania in this important dementia prevention research project. Over 10,000 people registered as ISLAND members between June and December 2019, to receive news and information about the project.
We are discovering that many people have no idea there are things they can do to reduce the risk of developing dementia, so we feel we are spreading good news!
Based on the amazing initial response to ISLAND, we have raised our target of recruitment to 20,000 Tasmanians aged 50 and over to achieve 10% of the State’s population in this age bracket. Covering this proportion of the State’s population would help make the ISLAND Project one of the most important health studies in the world. Please help us reach this target - spread the word and ask your friends and family to be part of ISLAND!
In October 2019 we sent an email to everyone who had expressed interest in ISLAND inviting them to join the ISLAND research and to participate in the first study. Joining the research involves doing some online questionnaires about past and present health, social networks, knowledge about dementia prevention and behaviours related to dementia risk. The responses to these questionnaires provide a ‘baseline’. As more people join ISLAND and do these surveys we will be able to paint an evidence-based picture of the dementia knowledge and risk profile of Tasmanians aged 50 and over.
Over 5,500 people have already completed their baseline. After baseline, you can download your own personal Dementia Risk Profile (DRP). This DRP uses a ‘traffic light’ format and shows if your behaviour related to nine potentially modifiable dementia risk factors is high, medium or low risk. Each year in October we will invite ISLAND members with a baseline to repeat the surveys so we can track changes over time. The DRP can be updated each time you do this survey. You might like to discuss your DRP results and how risks can be reduced with your health advisers.
About 20% of the people who joined the research cohort in October also went on to start the popular, free online course, Preventing Dementia Massive Open Online Course (PD-MOOC). We gathered some additional survey responses from the MOOC participants and will use these to understand if doing the course increased knowledge about modifiable dementia risk factors and if it leads to people taking action to reduce their risk of developing dementia. Stay tuned for these results!
