{"id":9383,"date":"2025-10-28T22:34:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T20:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interdem.org\/?p=9383"},"modified":"2025-10-28T22:34:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T20:34:08","slug":"the-family-interventions-in-dementia-mental-health-environments-find-me-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interdem.org\/?p=9383","title":{"rendered":"The Family Interventions iN Dementia Mental health Environments (FIND ME) Study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When a person living with dementia is admitted to a mental health ward it is often a time of crisis. For families, this can be an incredibly distressing time. Yet, despite their essential role, carers are too often excluded from care and decision-making. The FIND ME study, based at the Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory at the University of West London, aims to change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funded by the NIHR Health and Social Care Delivery Research Programme, the FIND ME study is a UK wide mixed-methods programme of work, exploring how mental health services can better involve and support carers when a friend or relative with dementia is admitted to hospital. The project brings together researchers, clinicians, carers and people living with dementia to develop practical, co-produced strategies for change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why this research matters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admission to a mental health ward can be necessary when features of a person\u2019s dementia become unmanageable in community settings. \u2018Mental health ward\u2019 is the commonly used term in the UK, but we know this varies across Europe; these wards can also be referred to a \u2018challenging behaviour unit\u2019 \u2013 commonly used in France, or a \u2018specialist dementia unit\u2019 in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admissions to these wards are often accompanied by distress, guilt and a sense of disempowerment for families. Previous research shows that when carers are actively involved in care, outcomes improve: hospital stays are shorter, readmissions fewer, and the quality of care higher. Yet many carers describe being \u2018kept in the dark\u2019 – excluded from discussions, offered little information, and left feeling helpless and anxious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FIND ME Study responds to national calls from NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care to strengthen collaboration between services, carers, and people with dementia. It seeks to address a critical evidence gap in understanding what best practice looks like for carer involvement in mental health wards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the study will do<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 30 months, the FIND ME team is undertaking an multi-stage programme of research:<\/p>\n\n\n\n