
Work programme 6
Living life and doing things together: the couple-management guide
Work programme had two broad phases:
- To identify and develop content for the couple-management guide in collaboration with couples living with dementia.
- To test the feasibility and acceptability of the couple-management guide, which was delivered through the platform of an electronic application, DemPower, on a touchscreen device in a feasibility trial in Sweden and in the UK.
The guide is aimed at enhancing the wellbeing as well as the relationship of couples where one partner has a diagnosis of dementia.
The contents in this guide are based on couples with lived experience, available research, and practice evidence.
Achievements
- Development of the couple-management guide DemPower, an electronic application.
- Publishing an extended review of couple-centred interventions in dementia.
- Undertaking a feasibility study in Sweden and UK.
What next?
Future publications:
- A paper exploring the process and challenges of developing an app for people with dementia and their family.
- A paper reporting the results of the feasibility study.
Personnel
Linköping University and Ersta Sköndal Bräcke, University College Sweden
- Ingrid Hellström – Principal Investigator
Linköping University
- Therése Bielsten – Doctoral Student
Wider team from The University of Manchester and Lancaster University
- Linda Davies – Health Economics
- Robyn Dowlen – Research Associate
- Mark Hann – Statistician
- John Keady – Chief Investigator
- Reena Lasrado – Research Associate
- Siobhan Reilly – Senior Lecturer and Principal Investigator, work programmes 3 and 5
- James Schumm – IT and software development
- Caroline Swarbrick – Senior Lecturer and Principal Investigator, work programme 1
Useful links
Open access publications
- DemPower: designing and implementing a home-based couple-management guide where one partner has dementia – protocol development
- A review of couple-centred interventions in dementia: Exploring the what and why – Part A
- An extended review of couple-centred interventions in dementia: Exploring the what and why – Part B
- Living Life and Doing Things Together: collaborative research with couples where one partner has a diagnosis of dementia