Impression INTERDEM Meeting virtual Alzheimer Europe Conference
We were very fortunate that the Alzheimer Europe Conference was still taking place despite the huge amount of changes we have to deal with in the current situation. As INTERDEM Academy member, I was also able to attend the annual INTERDEM meeting prior to the start of the 30th Alzheimer Europe Conference.
During the INTERDEM plenary, it was great to obtain an overview by chair Myrra Vernooij-Dassen on the last year’s advances of the INTERDEM community and receive updates of projects including Shared, DISTINCT, and SIDECAR that really highlighted the value of INTERDEM. Afterwards, I joined the breakout session related to methodological issues in dementia research. Hearing more about outcomes for nonpharmacological interventions was very useful for me as I’m currently working on the evaluation of a nonpharmacological intervention for people living with dementia.
The INTERDEM Academy Seminar on ethical dilemmas in clinical research was the real icing on the cake. I learned during this seminar that, even as an early stage researcher, we are regularly confronted with ethical dilemmas. For my own research, I became more aware of ethical dilemmas that can be present while including patients for my clinical study, when study participants want to gain insight in their outcome measures, and while handling data. I’m really looking forward to the follow-up INTERDEM Academy session in which we will play the ‘Dilemma Game’!
It was a very inspiring meeting; although, I agreed with Myrra Vernooij-Dassen that “it’s very sad we had to miss the fun part” [referring to the networking reception]. Yet, Alzheimer Europe provided us with an excellent virtual platform and I want to thank INTERDEM for providing the opportunity to connect with researchers studying psychosocial interventions in dementia around the world.
Willem Eikelboom – PhD candidate, Department of Neurology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. INTERDEM Academy member