Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that impacts a person's ability to perform everyday activities. This typically involves problems with memory, thinking, behavior, and motor control. Aside from memory impairment and a disruption in thought patterns, the most common symptoms of dementia include emotional problems, difficulties with language, and decreased motivation. The symptoms may be described as occurring in a continuum over several stages. Dementia ultimately has a significant effect on the individual, their caregivers, and their social relationships in general. A diagnosis of dementia requires the observation of a change from a person's usual mental functioning and a greater cognitive decline than might be caused by the normal aging process.
The Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (ΣΘΤ) is the second-largest nursing organization in the world with approximately 135,000 active members.
As populations age, caring for people with dementia has become more common. Elderly caregiving may consist of formal care and informal care. Formal care involves the services of community and medical partners, while informal care involves the support of family, friends, and local communities. In most mild-to-medium cases of dementia, the caregiver is a spouse or an adult child. Over a period of time, more professional care in the form of nursing and other supportive care may be required medically, whether at home or in a long-term care facility. There is evidence to show that case management can improve care for individuals with dementia and the experience of their caregivers. Furthermore, case management may reduce overall costs and institutional care in the medium term. Millions of people living in the United States take care of a friend or family member with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia.
Dame Anne Marie Rafferty FRCN is a British nurse, academic and researcher. She is professor of nursing policy and former dean of the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care at King's College London. She served as President of the Royal College of Nursing from 2019 to 2021.
The Mokken scale is a psychometric method of data reduction. A Mokken scale is a unidimensional scale that consists of hierarchically-ordered items that measure the same underlying, latent concept. This method is named after the political scientist Rob Mokken who suggested it in 1971.
Nursing Studies is an academic unit within the School of Health in Social Science at University of Edinburgh. A teaching unit was established in 1956, the first to be part of a British university. The unit's initial focus was on education for nursing teachers and leaders. In 1960 it offered the first degree courses in nursing in the UK. It became a department of the university in 1965 and six years later gained a Chair of Nursing Studies, which was the first to be established in Europe. The unit also had a Nursing Research Unit, which opened in 1971 and ran for more than twenty years. The unit continues to offer nurse education at undergraduate, postgraduate and research levels.
Parveen Azam Ali is a British nurse and radio presenter of Pakistani origin who works at the University of Sheffield. She is Professor in Nursing in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health - Health Sciences School, Division of Nursing and Midwifery/Sheffield Teaching Hospitals/Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals. She was an associate editor of Nursing Open until 2021, a contributor to The Conversation (website) and a presenter on LinkFM. She was a founding member of The Lancet Commission on Nursing. In 2020 she became the editor-in-chief of International Nursing Review the society journal of the International Council of Nurses.
Margaret Ruth McCorkle FAAN, FAPOS was an American nurse, oncology researcher, and educator. She was the Florence Schorske Wald Professor of Nursing at the Yale School of Nursing.
Alison Joan Tierney FRCN is a British nurse researcher and educator and a former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Advanced Nursing. Tierney was one of the first graduates (1971) of the Integrated Degree/Nursing programme at The University of Edinburgh. In 2018 she was named as one of 70 of the most influential nurses in the 70 years of the NHS.
Brendan George McCormack is a nursing academic and internationally renowned nursing leader. McCormack's research focuses on person-centredness with a particular focus on the development of person-centred cultures, practices and processes. McCormack is the Head of The Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery & Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney. Additionally, McCormack maintains honorary academic positions at Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University, Zealand University Hospital/University of Southern Denmark, Ulster University and University of Pretoria and is the Associate Director of the International Community of Practice for person-centred practice research (PcPR-ICoP). McCormack was the founding editor of “International Journal of Older People Nursing” and currently remains ‘Editor Emeritus’ of the journal.
Mark Hayter is a British academic. He is Head of the School of Nursing and Public Health at the Manchester Metropolitan University. He serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Nursing and on the editorial boards of Journal of School Nursing, and Nursing Outlook. Hayter is best known for his research on sexual health including psychosexual health, adolescent reproductive health, family planning, contraceptive counseling, and HIV. He was a founding member of The Lancet Commission on Nursing.
Majda Pajnkihar is former Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Maribor, Slovenia. She is one of the founding members of Udine-C Network, an international research group with the main interest in nursing careers.
Charlotte Laura Clarke is the Professor of Health in Social Science at the University of Edinburgh. Her research centres on the experiences of living with dementia.
Pam Smith is a Professor of Nursing in the School of Health in Social Science at the University of Edinburgh. Her research relates to emotions and care within the nursing profession.
Tonks Fawcett is a Professor of Student Learning in Nursing Studies at the University of Edinburgh and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research focuses on mainly around clinical support of learner nurses and clinical decision making.
Debra Elizabeth Jackson is an Australian academic nurse and professor of nursing at the Susan Wakil School of Nursing at the University of Sydney, Australia. In 2021 she was awarded professor emerita in the faculty of health in the University of Technology Sydney. She holds a number of adjunct roles including honorary professor of nursing, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, visiting professor at the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery in King's College London, Bournemouth University, and Auckland University of Technology. She was previously the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Nursing and is now the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Advanced Nursing.
The Edinburgh Feeding Evaluation in Dementia (EdFED) Scale is a psychometric screening tool to assess difficulty with self-feeding in older people with dementia. It was developed at The University of Edinburgh by Roger Watson and Ian Deary.
Daniel J. Pesut is an American nurse educator, academic, researcher and coach. He is an Emeritus Professor of Nursing, Past Director of Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership, and Katherine R. and C. Walton Lillehei Chair in Nursing Leadership at University of Minnesota.
Raymond Javan Chan is an Australian oncology nurse, clinical trialist, researcher, and senior administrator. He is Matthew Flinders Professor of Cancer Nursing, and Director of the Caring Futures Institute and Dean of Research within the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University. He also holds academic titles as NHMRC Investigator Fellow and Matthew Flinders Fellow. He also currently holds an NHMRC Investigator Fellowship.
Patsy Yates is an Australian registered nurse, university professor, and institutional leader who works at the Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane), where she is a Distinguished Professor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health, Research Director of the Centre for Palliative Care Research and Education, and Co-Director of the Centre for Healthcare Transformation. She is a specialist in the field of palliative, cancer and aged care.
