Dementia Care

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24 Australian Journal of Dementia Care October/November 2016 Vol 5 No 5
What are the DCRCs?
The DCRCs are not so much a ‘what’ as a ‘who’
– a network of people working on more than 300
projects across Australia. Here is a snapshot:
• Established in 2006.
• Member organisation of the National Health
and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) National Institute for
Dementia Research (NNIDR) since 2015.
• Currently funded by the NHMRC.
• Hosted at three university-based sites: UNSW Australia, Sydney;
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane; and Australian
National University, Canberra.
• Three priority research themes: Assessment and Better Care
(ABC); Early Diagnosis and Prevention (EDP); Carers and
Consumers (CC).
As a ‘network of networks’, it is difficult to find programs of
Australian research that are not connected in some way to the
activities and expertise of the DCRCs. This includes some of the
larger longitudinal cohort studies of ageing which
commenced before the DCRCs were launched.
There is a wealth of ongoing high-quality projects
in areas as diverse as falls prevention,
complementary therapies, nutrition, biomarkers,
and the creative and performing arts. By
prioritising consumer input, DCRC projects strive to be inclusive, yet
offer opportunity for respectful focus on the needs and preferences
of community sectors – such as those relating to sexuality,
intellectual disability, young onset dementia, veterans, and various
culturally and linguistically diverse groups in the community.
A timeline for all DCRC-connected activity would fill at least one
entire issue of the Australian Journal of Dementia Care. We feature
on these two pages some examples of the many ‘firsts’ that DCRC
research has given to Australia – some are world firsts. In celebration
of the enduring DCRC contribution, we show those firsts against
some of the other key events and milestones in dementia and aged
care over the past 10 years.
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
DCRC SPEC I AL I SSUE : THE B I G P I CTURE I N DEMENT I A RESEARCH
• Dementia Training Study
Centres established
• Dementia Behaviour
ManagementAdvisory
Services (DBMAS) operational
•Dementia Care Essentials
workforce training launched
• Encouraging Best Practice
in Residential Aged Care
(EBPRAC) initiative
launched
• Australian Imaging,
Biomarkers and Lifestyle
Study of Ageing (AIBL)
• Older Twin Study (OATS)
• Sydney Memory and Ageing
Study (DCRC partnership
begins; study began 2005)
• Hospital Dementia
Services (HDS) project
(AIHW partnership)
• DCRC: ABC (UNSW) centre
launch
• 1st peer-reviewed
publication
• DCRC: CC (QUT) centre
launch
• DCRC: EDP (ANU) centre
launch
• 1st DCRC Forum, Sydney
• 1st Post-Doc and PhD
scholarships awarded
• NHMRC grant success:
15 Dementia Research
Grants funded
• Australian normative and
dementia imaging (ANDI)
collaborative network
launch
• 1st computer model for
Australian dementia
prevalence projections
• NSW Dementia Policy
Team join DCRC: ABC
• 1st DCRC Forum held in Qld
• ASPREE (ASPirin in
Reducing Events in the
Elderly), via DCRC: EDP
collaborators through ANU
• Personality and Total
Health Through Life (DCRC
partnership begins 2009,
study commenced 2001)
• Sydney Centenarian Study
launched
• Koori Growing Old Well
Study
• Successful Ageing in
Intellectual Disability
(SAge-ID) study
• Aged Care Funding
Instrument (ACFI)
introduced
• Ministers Dementia
Advisory Group
established
• National falls prevention
guidelines for Australian
hospitals
• Consumer Dementia
Research Network (CDRN)
established Key happenings
in Australian
dementia &
aged care
Major
longitudinal
cohort study
launches and
subproject
partnerships
DCRC network
milestones
The Big Picture Journey of Firsts in Dementia Research
2007-09 Dementia Outcomes Measurement Suite (DOMS)
1st evidence review, guidelines, and website for clinicians and researchers
on a common set of dementia tools – revised and relaunched in 2016
2009 GPCOG
(General Practitioner
Cognitive Assessment Scale)
becomes available online with launch of the GPCOG
website; website and tool revised/relaunched 2016
2007-11 SMILE Study
1st pilot/trial of humour therapy in aged
care, informing national service delivery
2008-10 P-Cat Person-centred Care Assessment Tool
1st test/launch of P-CAT
2007 Environmental Design
1st validations of Environmental Audit Tool (EAT)
Mind Your Mind /
Your Brain Matters
1st website
launched 2010
2007-10 Dementia Research Mapping Project