Completed projects
Below are the details of our completed projects.
The AgeWell study, carried out in partnership with Age Cymru Gwynedd a Môn, made it possible to establish an AgeWell Centre in Nefyn, Gwynedd, and to investigate how best to help people make the most of this resource to promote health and well-being. This study was funded by the Medical Research Council through the Lifelong Health and Well-being Programme. A report of the findings can be found here.
Key publication: BMC Psychiatry (open access)
The Bangor Goal-Setting Interview was developed for this study, an updated Version 2 can be found at the bottom of the publications and resources section of the website.
Contact: Professor Linda Clare (L.Clare@exeter.ac.uk)
In the AwareCare study, funded by the Medical Research Council, we used detailed observations to develop a tool that can be used to assess the degree of awareness shown by people with very severe dementia, and trained staff in its use. Residents' family members rated residents' quality of life more highly in homes where staff participated in this training. The AwareCare tool can be found in the publications and resources section of the website.
Key publication: Trial paper, AwareCare measure development
Contact: Professor Linda Clare (l.clare@exeter.ac.uk)
The BANC study aimed to find out whether being bilingual helps to prevent or delay the onset of cognitive impairment and dementia, and to consider why this might be and how the insights gained could be used to help those who do not naturally have this advantage. Three groups of people were included in the study, people with dementia, people with Parkinson's disease, and healthy older controls. This study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
Key publications: Dementia, Parkinson's (open access), healthy older people, cognitive reserve in Parkinson's
Summary findings available in English or Welsh.
To request access to the data please see this page.
Contact: Professor Linda Clare (l.clare@exeter.ac.uk) or Dr Anthony Martyr (a.martyr@exeter.ac.uk)
This project investigates psychological and social factors that contribute to cognitive reserve in later life as part of the ESRC-funded CFAS Wales study (Cognitive Function and Ageing Study Wales), led by Professor Bob Woods, in which we collaborate.
The CORD-PD study has now been completed and reports will be made available in due course. The study aimed to find out whether cognitive rehabilitation can improve memory performance in people with Parkinson’s disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies. This pilot study was funded by Health and Care Research Wales as part of the Research for Patient and Public Benefit Wales scheme. The study was led by Dr John Hindle at Bangor University and Prof Linda Clare and Dr Anthony Martyr are coinvestigators.
Key publication to date: Protocol (open access), goal statement findings (open access), study findings.
Contact: Professor Linda Clare (L.Clare@exeter.ac.uk)
We are currently working with our external collaborators Professor Kaarin Anstey, Professor Nicola Lautenschlager and Dr Sarang Kim on the Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) in Cognitive Health project. Our research focuses on the prevention of dementia by trying to understand how we can support people to adopt a healthy lifestyle, e.g. exercise regularly, eat healthily and engage in social and cognitive activities. To be more specific, we are exploring different potentially modifiable determinants of health-related behaviour change, including beliefs about prevention of dementia hold by patients (Barbora Silarova) and health care professionals (Rachel Collins) and more recently developed concept of awareness of age related changes (Serena Sabatini). The work will involve developing an intervention focusing on supporting middle aged and older individuals to make positive lifestyle choices with the aim to easily deliver the intervention within National Health Service (NHS) setting.
Contact: Professor Linda Clare (L.Clare@exeter.ac.uk)
DECIDE is linked with the REACH team’s IDEAL project and collected additional data from carers participating in IDEAL. The DECIDE team, led by Dr Penny Wright at the University of Leeds, developed a quality of life measure for family carers of people with dementia. DECIDE was funded by the Medical Research Council.
Key publications to date: SIDECAR measure
Contact: Professor Linda Clare (L.Clare@exeter.ac.uk)
Goal-oriented Cognitive Rehabilitation in Early-stage Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias: Multi-centre Single-blind Randomised Controlled Trial (GREAT)
The GREAT trial was a large randomised controlled trial funded by the National Institute for Health Research, conducted in eight centres throughout England and Wales, which aimed to provide definitive evidence about the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of goal-oriented cognitive rehabilitation for people with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, vascular, or mixed dementia and their carers.
In GREAT, the cognitive rehabilitation therapy involved 10 home-based sessions with a therapist over three months, followed by four maintenance sessions over the following six months. Over the course of the 10 weekly sessions, participants with dementia worked in collaboration with a therapist to address up to three personal rehabilitation goals, where possible supported by a family carer. They also explored ways of managing anxiety and stress and improving concentration, and reviewed and improved on existing coping strategies.
There were 475 participants with dementia, each with a care partner, included in the trial, and 427 participants (90%) completed the trial.
Cognitive rehabilitation was found to be effective in enabling people with early-stage dementia to improve their everyday functioning in relation to individual goals targeted in the therapy sessions.
Key publication to date: Protocol (open access), Trial findings
We are currently working with NHS Trusts, Councils and private providers on implementing GREAT Cognitive Rehabilitation into dementia care and learning how to support wider roll out in future. This is part of the GREAT into Practice project funded by Alzheimer's Society.
INCLUDE - Identifying and mitigating the individual and dyadic impact of COVID-19 and life under physical distancing on people with dementia and carers
This study focused on the experiences during the coronavirus pandemic of people with dementia and carers that had previously taken part in the IDEAL cohort. We contacted IDEAL participants living in England and Wales and interviewed them using remote data collection methods between September 21st 2020 and April 30th 2021. The project ran until December 2021.
Key publications to date: People with dementia, People with dementia before and during COVID-19, Carers (open access), Carers before and during COVID-19 (open access), Qualitative analysis (open access)
Emma Walter, Projects Administrator
Email: IDEAL@exeter.ac.uk
We are collaborating in INDIGO, an Australian randomised controlled trial of a physical activity intervention for sedentary older people at risk of cognitive decline, based on individual goal-setting and supported by volunteer mentors, led by Professor Nicola Lautenschlager at the University of Melbourne.
Key publication to date: Protocol (open access), Trial findings
Contact: Professor Linda Clare (L.Clare@exeter.ac.uk)
MIDAS, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, examined the awareness that people with early-stage dementia have of the changes they are experiencing, and the factors that influence awareness. The Memory Awareness Rating Scale that was employed in MIDAS can be found in the publications and resources section of the website.
Key publications: Biopsychosocial factors, Longitudinal trajectories, Emotional Stroop, Functional ability, Self-concept, MCI and dementia, Quality of life (open access), Quality of life over time, Memory awareness
Contact: Professor Linda Clare l.clare@exeter.ac.uk
We participated in the NeuroSKILL programme, which was funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland-Wales Programme 2007-13. Our contribution was to examine how people with early-stage dementia and their family members understand, and adjust to, the condition, and to explore how the results of neuroimaging investigations can be used to help people make sense of the condition.
Key publications: here, Illness representations using MIDAS data in people with dementia, carers
Contact: Dr Catherine Quinn (c.quinn1@bradford.ac.uk)
We collaborated in a trial of a novel intervention for people with delirium superimposed on dementia, RESERVE-DSD, which was being conducted in the USA under the leadership of Professor Ann Kolanowski at Pennsylvania State University. This was funded by the US National Institutes of Health.
Key publications: Main findings, anti-dementia drugs and cognition
Contact: Professor Linda Clare (l.clare@exeter.ac.uk)
The SMART study aimed to find out how best to support people in developing the capacity for self-management in the early stages of dementia. In conjunction with staff at Glan Traeth memory clinic in Rhyl, North-Wales, we developed a support group that focused on self-management skills. The group was piloted in a randomized controlled trial. This research was funded by Health and Care Research Wales. A summary of the findings can be found here.
Key publications: findings from the trial, qualitative analysis of people with dementia involved in the trial, and review of previous interventions
Contact: Dr Catherine Quinn c.quinn1@bradford.ac.uk
