IN PRACTICE
In Practice
Working Towards Dementia Friendly Societies
Dementia friendly communities and opportunities are expanding, and can promote independent living
for those diagnosed with dementia
Dementia is a national health priority in
the UK1 and a public health priority
worldwide.2 This has arisen after
considerable efforts from clinicians and
consumer/campaigning organizations,
such as the UK Alzheimer Society,
Alzheimer Europe and Alzheimer Disease
International. This has resulted in a policy
context driving forward agendas
supporting earlier diagnosis of dementia,
improvements in post-diagnostic
support, and better standards of care in
hospitals, care homes and the
community. In the UK the Prime
Minister’s Challenge on Dementia3 has
set clear expectations that not only
should more funding be dedicated to
research seeking to find evidence on
how to better support people with
dementia and their families, but also to
improving current care practices. One
particular development worthy of note is
the concept of ‘Dementia Friendly
Communities’, reported on in a
subsequent progress report.4 Dementia
friendly is a notion designed to enable
and empower communities to work
towards innovation in their particular
context or neighbourhood to provide a
high quality of life for those living with
dementia. What dementia friendly
neighbourhoods might look like has been
explored, including promoting access to
outdoor spaces,5 enabling people to
remain living in their communities
independently for longer. This is a key
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question in the dementia field:
how to create a society that
promotes independent living and
high quality support in the
community? This is important as
simply increasing the time period
that people can live at home
would help to address the
growing concern of the future
economic burden of crisis care
and long stay care placements.6
However it is also important to
consider how the current policy
drivers can help bring about
lasting societal change to address the
long standing marginalization and social
exclusion7 many people with dementia
still experience today. What can we do to
promote a dementia friendly society?
Much of this is common sense, and what
we can do to make things dementia
friendly are also things that we can do to
promote general health and wellbeing.
Two areas attracting increasing attention
relate to access to a range of activities in
accessible environments. For example,
ensuring that people with dementia have
access to local leisure, recreation and
tourism opportunities is important.
Promoting opportunities to engage with
the arts, whether this is to visit galleries,
museums, the theatre or to directly get
involved and have groups for people with
dementia to paint, sculpture, sing, dance
and act are all important. Ensuring that
physical environments maximize visual
cues to help people with dementia
orientate themselves, whether this is in a
supermarket, town centre, care facility or
their own home is an area attracting
increased attention. The call for one
million dementia friends8 in the UK
promotes a sense of communities
helping one another and working
together to reduce the stigma and
exclusion a diagnosis of dementia often
brings, not just to the person with the
diagnosis but also to their family
members. Research demonstrates that
May 2013 Vol 133 No 3 l Perspectives in Public Health  141
physical, mental and social engagement
have a huge part to play in promoting
wellbeing in dementia.9 Creating
dementia friendly communities will help
to bring about a society where people
with dementia can continue to engage in
everyday activities and address the
international public health challenge
dementia presents.
Professor Anthea Innes, PhD MSc
BA Director, Bournemouth University
Dementia Institute (BUDI)
Reference
1 DoH 2009. Living well with dementia: A
National strategy. London: Department of
Health.
2 World Health Organisation 2012. Dementia: a
public health priority. World Health
Organisation. Available online at: http://
whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2012/
9789241564458_eng.pdf (Last accessed
March 2013)
3 Department of Health 2012. The prime
minister’s challenge on dementia delivering
major improvements in dementia care and
research by 2015. London: Department of
Health
4 Dementia Champions Leads 2012. The prime
minister’s challenge on dementia delivering
major improvements in dementia care and
research by 2015: a report on progress.
London: Department of Health.
5 Mitchell, L. and Burton, E. 2006.
“Neighbourhoods for life: Designing dementia-
friendly outdoor environments”, Quality in
Ageing and Older Adults, 7(1).26–33
6 Luengo-Fernandez R., Leal J. & Gray A. 2010.
Dementia 2010: The Economic Burden of
Dementia and Associated Research Funding
in the United Kingdom. Alzheimer’s Research
Trust, University of Oxford.
7 Innes, A., Archibald, C. and Murphy, C. (eds)
2004. Dementia and Social Inclusion:
Marginalised groups and marginalised areas
of dementia research, care and practice
London: Jessica Kingsley
8 Alzheimer Society 2013. Dementia Friends.
Available online at: http://www.dementiafriends.
org.uk/ (Last accessed March 2013)
9 Karp A. Paillard-Borg S. Wang H.-X.
Silverstein M. Winblad B. Fratiglioni L. 2006.
Mental, Physical and Social Components in
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