Outcome INTERDEM Academy Publication award 24/25
On behalf of the jury: Georgina Charlesworth, PhD, chair of the jury committee
Once again the ‘short-list’ jury had a long list of papers to evaluate for the INTERDEM Academy Publication Award. We were especially pleased to note an expansion in the number of research groups represented in the submissions, including papers from researchers and institutions that are new to INTERDEM and to the INTERDEM Academy. We want to thank everyone for their entries, and we call on all supervisors of early career researchers to encourage submission of eligible publications in future years.
When evaluating the entries, we look for work that is aligned to the INTERDEM mission: to develop research on Early, Timely and Quality Psychosocial Interventions in Dementia; to enhance practice, policy and the quality of life of people with dementia and their supporters, and to place people with dementia and their supporters at the centre of research and practice. There are now published examples of involving people with dementia in many different research designs, and we strongly advocate for the involvement of people with lived experience in the training of early career researchers and in the planning and execution of the research.
We extend congratulations to our top three (winner and two runners-up) for the 2024/5 award, each of whom receive a monetary prize to be used to stimulate their career development. The winner is invited to present the article at the Annual INTERDEM meeting at Alzheimer Europe, this year in the beautiful city of Bologna in Italy.
The runners-up (in alphabetical order)
2. Janissa Altona – Instruments for Assessing Social Health in the Context of Cognitive Decline and Dementia: A Systematic Review
3. Frank Spichiger – Intervention effect of person profiles for people with advanced dementia: Stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial
We anticipate that our top three will have significant impact, albeit in different ways. We hope that the positive findings in Frank Spichiger’s paper attract wide interest. Whilst dementia-care specialists have long advocated for personalised approaches in care planning for people with advanced dementia in care settings, evaluations in the field have been beset by negative findings. We are delighted to highlight the positive evaluation and the materials created to support implementation of the intervention in practice.
We have no doubt that Janissa Altona’s paper will become highly cited. By providing a review of outcome measures relevant to the INTERDEM’s interest in social health, it is a wonderful resource for all of us involved in intvention research in the field.
With such strong competition, what placed Kate Turley’s paper ahead of the others? The jury were impressed by Kate’s innovative, inter-disciplinary work at an early career stage. Whilst we caution against the use of daylight-simulation technology as an excuse to further restrict the opportinity for people with dementia to go outdoors, we hope that the luminaires that Kate is working on do, quite literally, brighten people’s days.
This year the Annual INTERDEM meeting at Alzheimer’s Europe is in Bologna in Italy. We look forward to hearing from our winner and seeing you there!
Congratulations to the winners!
We would also like to thank Georgina Charlesworth, René Thyrian, Jacoba Huizenga and Ajda Flissar for contibuting to this year’s jury and providing us with their careful considerations and final ranking.
The winner of this year’s award:
Kate Turley – Evaluating the Impact of a Daylight-Simulating Luminaire on Mood, Agitation, Rest-Activity Patterns, and Social Well-Being Parameters in a Care Home for People With Dementia: Cohort Study
My name is Kate Turley and I am a 2nd year Industrial PhD fellow supported by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. I work for a lighting design company named Chroma Lighting in Belfast whilst studying within the School of Computing at Ulster University.
The aim of my research is to understand how daylight-simulating lighting and sensing technologies can be used to support the body clock and wellbeing of people living with dementia. Daylight-simulating lighting is dynamic and can change its output throughout the day to replicate the varying colour and brightness of natural daylight. As a result, it can be used to better align an individual’s circadian rhythm with the 24 hour light/dark cycle which helps to support functions such as sleep and mood regulation. Therefore this presents as a promising non-pharmacological intervention for supporting some of the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSDs).
This article is a summary of a study we conducted with 11 participants with dementia living in a care home. These participants made use of the dynamic lighting and sensing technology for 12 weeks with a 4 week static lighting baseline. The findings demonstrate that daylight-simulating lighting has significant positive implications on mood, sense of feeling at home, and also led to a reduction in social isolation. Interestingly, the study observes how each individual’s response to lighting is largely heterogeneous and therefore requires tailored delivery to support BPSDs in a therapeutic and user-centred manner.
This research aligns with INTERDEM’s mission as we are monitoring the individual response to lighting as a means of eventually tailoring the output to their unique body clock demands in order to alleviate their symptoms and improve their quality of life. In alignment with INTERDEM, we also champion inclusive design and have been working in collaboration with Alzheimer’s Society Northern Ireland and DEEDS during 8 in-person workshops to better understand their interaction with/preference of lighting to inform future technological design.
To read the full article: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11622703/
The runners-up (in alphabetical order)
Janissa Altona – Instruments for Assessing Social Health in the Context of Cognitive Decline and Dementia: A Systematic Review
I’m Janissa Altona, a researcher and PhD candidate at the Institute of Public Health and Nursing Research (IPP) at the University of Bremen, Germany, where I focus on nursing and health care research. After completing my Master’s degree in Public Health, I joined the working group for nursing and health care research and have since been involved in interdisciplinary projects on dementia care.
In my recently published article, “Instruments for assessing social health in the context of cognitive decline and dementia” (Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2024), we conducted a systematic review to examine how social health is currently being measured in research on cognitive decline. The concept of social health has gained increasing attention, yet we still lack clarity on how to assess it reliably in people living with dementia.
A central finding of the study is that while there are various instruments available, few of them are designed specifically for the dementia context. Even fewer are sensitive enough to track change over time—an important requirement when evaluating the impact of psychosocial interventions. By applying a structured conceptual framework, the review also makes visible which domains of social health are well-covered and which are underrepresented.
This work fits very well within the INTERDEM mission, as it directly supports efforts to advance psychosocial intervention research and to better understand social dimensions of health in dementia. Providing a clearer overview of measurement instruments is a necessary step toward improving both the design and evaluation of interventions that aim to support social participation and well-being.
I would also like to express my thanks to all co-authors for their valuable contributions, collaboration, and support throughout the development of this review.
To read the full article: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1387192/full
Frank Spichiger – Intervention effect of person profiles for people with advanced dementia: Stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial
I am honored to present our article, «Person Profile Dementia Intervention in Long-Term Care: A Stepped-Wedge Cluster-Randomized Trial». I had the privilege of co-coordinating and managing this large Swiss nurse-led trial, focused on implementing person-centered care in long-term care facilities. I also took the lead in co-authoring the article, working closely with colleagues with diverse expertiese to share our findings.
With a background in both clinical nursing practice and research, I have spent my career dedicated to improving palliative and end-of-life care, particularly for people with dementia. My research expertise spans both quantitative and qualitative methods. This study shows my commitment to developing interventions that have a real, positive impact on dementia care.
In this trial, we introduced structured discussions (person profiles) to guide the care of people with advanced dementia. The goal was to empower both care teams and family members to identify and reflect on symptoms and concerns, creating a more proactive and person-centered approach to care. Our findings demonstrated significant improvements in quality of life for people with dementia.
My study aligns with the INTERDEM mission by addressing critical gaps in dementia care, especially for people with advanced dementia who can no longer express their needs verbally. By integrating patient-reported outcomes into routine care using person profiles, we have created a replicable framework that can guide future dementia care interventions. I believe this study makes an important contribution to the ongoing work in dementia care, pushing the boundaries of both clinical practice and research in the field.
To read the full article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1525861024007734