Online Intersection of Dementia + Design

DSDC’s bespoke training on dementia design intends to redress the balance between dementia care and dementia design by focussing on the complex combination of the individual, dementia and the environment.

This course will develop your knowledge of the key principles of ‘dementia friendly’ design, which is seen as one of a set of non-pharmacological interventions for people with dementia. Any setting for people living with dementia should be dementia friendly to optimise the treatment outcomes from all interventions. This course is suitable for anyone involved in the development or delivery of services and spaces where people with dementia may live, work or play.

Learning Objectives

• An understanding of how dementia impacts on an individual’s ability to understand and navigate in their environment, including how the built environment affects stress levels and communication changes.

• An introduction to the use of positive risk enablement approach to wellbeing in the built environment.

• An in-depth understanding of dementia friendly design principles which accommodate cognitive changes, and how those principles are applied in new building projects.

• The skills to use colour contrast, signage, lighting and acoustic interventions as a way of adapting the environment to be more easily understood and to support independence.

• Insight into public and private spaces needed to accommodate evidenced based interventions to support quality of life and wellbeing for people living with dementia.

• Experience of tools which help to identify shortfalls in an existing environment, and how to use that information to create more suitable spaces for people living with dementia.

Includes

• The online Intersection of Dementia + Design is RIBA CPD assured, with 14 hours of CPD material, plus access to additional content

• RIBA CPD Certificate

• 1 hour consultation with DSDC expert advice on personal projects

Course Syllabus

This course is paced to suit you, set out in 7 easy to manage weekly themes, with access over 12 weeks. We suggest allocating 2 hours per week to complete the course. Content will be released each Monday morning, over the first 7 weeks.

Week 1: Introduction to DSDC, dementia and the dementia design principles

Week 2: The individual with dementia

Week 3: Interior specification

Week 4: Hearing and sight

Week 5: Outdoor spaces

Week 6: Mechanical and electrical

Week 7: Neighbourhoods and the urban realm