BLOG – MEETINGDEM project finalized: 13 new Meeting Centres in Italy, Poland and UK!

During the last three years Interdem partners from the Netherlands, Italy, Poland and the UK collaborated successfully in the MEETINGDEM project, which was funded by the Joint Programme Neurodegenerative Diseases research. MEETINGDEM (2014-2017) aims to adaptively implement, evaluate and disseminate the evidence based Meeting Centers Support Programme (MCSP) for people with dementia and their carers in Europe. MCSP consists of a social club for people with dementia were they can participate in recreational and creative activities as well as in therapeutic interventions during three days per week; informative meetings and discussion groups for their family caregivers and a weekly consultation hour, monthly centre meeting and social activities for both, and is offered in socially integrated community centres.
The programme is theoretically based on the Adaptation-Coping model (Dröes et al, 2011, Brooker et al., 2017) and aims to support people with dementia and their caregivers in dealing with the consequences of dementia. MCSP was originally developed in the Netherlands (Dröes et al, 2000) and is now being implemented in other European countries, such as Italy, Poland, the UK and recently also in Spain. The consortium partners of MEETINGDEM are VU University medical centre in Amsterdam (coordinator, the Netherlands), University of Bologna (Italy), Fondazione Don Gnocchi Onlus in Milan (Italy), Wroclaw Medical University (Poland), University of Worcester (UK) and University College London (UK). They succeeded to successfully prepare and adaptively implement, together with local care, welfare and volunteer organisations who participated in the initiative groups, 13 Meeting Centres in these countries. The implementations were accompanied by research evaluating the implementation process (Mangiaracina et al, 2017), culture specific adaptations, the effectiveness, cost effectiveness and user experience.
Results of the project are expected to be published late 2017.

People who are interested in updates on this project or in setting up Meeting centres in their own country or region, are advised to sign up for the free project newsletter (www.meetingdem.eu) or to contact the researchers via meetingdem.eu@gmail.com
Below a link with more information on this project.
http://www.neurodegenerationresearch.eu/2016/10/meetingdem-progress-update-how-one-jpnd-project-is-bringing-a-tried-and-tested-dutch-model-for-dementia-care-to-italy-poland-and-the-uk/

Brooker, D., Evans, S.B. and Dröes, R.M. (2017) Framing outcomes of post-diagnostic psychosocial interventions in dementia. Working with Older People, Vol. 21 Iss: 1, pp. 13-21

Dröes, R.M., Van der Roest, H.G., van Mierlo, L.D., Meiland, F.J.M. Memory problems in dementia: adaptation and coping strategies and psychosocial treatments. Expert reviews neurotherapeutics, 2011, 11(12): 1769-1782.

Dröes, R.M., Breebaart, E., Tilburg, W. van, and G.J. Mellenbergh The effect of integrated family support versus day care only on behavior and mood of patients with dementia. International Psychogeriatrics, 2000, 12(1): 99-116.

Mangiaracina, F. Chattat, R. Farina, E.. Saibene, F.L. Gamberini G, Brooker, D., Evans S.C., Evans, S.B. Szcześniak, D. Urbanska, KRymaszewska, J., Hendriks, I. Dröes R.M., Meiland F.J.M. Not re-inventing the wheel: the adaptive implementation of the meeting centres support programme in four European countries. Aging & Mental Health, 2017, 21 (1), 40-48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2016.1258540

 

Professor Rose-Marie Dröes, coordinator MEETINGDEM
Department of Psychiatry, VU University medical center, Amsterdam