Dementia and the Arts: Sharing Practice, Developing Understanding and Enhancing Lives

Explore, challenge and shape your perceptions of dementia through science and the creative arts

Duration

4 weeks

Weekly study

2 hours

100% online

How it works

Unlimited subscription

Learn more

Understand how the arts can improve the lives of people with dementia

Creating a society that supports people living with a dementia is a major challenge - and opportunity. On this course you will discover how the arts can create a common ground between people. You will learn what we can all do to improve the quality of life and care for people living with different dementias, examining best practice and the limits of our current understanding.

Drawing on the work of the Created Out of Mind project during its residency at the Wellcome Collection, this course will expand your perceptions of the dementias and the diverse role of the arts in all our lives.

  • Week 1

    Seeing the dementias differently through the arts and seeing the arts differently through the dementias

    • How can the arts communicate the experience of living with a dementia?

      Find out what's coming up this week, and learn about the Created Out of Mind project, and how it came about to explore what the arts can tell us about the lived experience of dementia. Image credit: Wellcome Collection

    • How can the arts help us understand dementia?

      Learn how different arts-based practices can give an insight into the dementias. Image credit: Profiles in Paint, 2014-18

    • How can the experience of living with dementia inspire the arts?

      Learn how the experiences of living with a dementia can be an inspiration to artists and various arts practices.

    • The arts in care settings

      Learn about some of the ways on which arts-based activities can affect residents, staff and artists within care homes. Image: Courtesy of Living Words

    • The arts in practice: Three perspectives

      Hear about three different perspectives on how engaging in arts-based activities has intertwined with the dementia experience.

    • Conclusion

      We hear how the arts for health and wellbeing can have an impact on the national agenda and recap what has been learned this week.

  • Week 2

    How can moments be understood, experienced and measured?

    • Arts-based practices as a gateway to in-the-moment experiences

      Explore how moment-to-moment experiences can help to give people living with dementia meaningful experiences

    • The arts applied

      Hear about some of the ways in which arts have been applied in communal settings to facilitate in-the-moment experiences for people living with dementia. Image: Courtesy of Singing with Friends - James Berry.

    • In-the-moment experiences in care settings

      In the two following videos, you will hear how in-the-moment experiences can be particularly impactful in care home settings.

    • The lived experience

      Hear three different perspectives on how the arts can play a role during in-the-moment experiences for somebody living with dementia.

    • Conclusion

      We hear how learning to better understanding in-the-moment experiences can help to improve social care for people living with dementia, and we recap what has been learned this week.

  • Week 3

    Creating Common Ground: The Arts, Equality and Dementia

    • How can the arts help to establish common ground?

      This week we will explore various different ways in which the arts are able to create common ground between people living with and without dementia, and how this helps to foster a sense of greater equality. Image credit: Scriberia

    • Shifting the focus

      Explore how the arts can help to shift the focus in terms of what it means to have a diagnosis of dementia and the implications that this has on creative engagement and contribution.

    • The arts in practice

      Learn how arts-based practices, such as those applied in With All, enable learning and remove barriers between people.

    • The transformative power of the arts

      Learn how arts-based activities can remove barriers between people and create a greater sense of community.

    • A national agenda

      Explore the ways in which providing opportunities to create common ground for people living with dementia is a national concern.

    • Conclusion

      We review what has been learned this week by encouraging you to complete the Test Yourself quiz questions, the Try-It-Yourself Exercise and post any questions or recommendations in the Communal Pinboard.

  • Week 4

    Language & Communication: How can we change the conversation?

    • How can language shape our perceptions of the dementias?

      Learn how the language that is used talk about the dementias influences our own perceptions of what it is like to live with the diagnosis.

    • Creating dialogue between science and the arts

      Learn about some of the ways in which science and the arts are coming together to carry out research into the dementias.

    • Using the arts to enhance communication

      Learn about different ways in which the arts can be used, both verbally and non-verbally, to enhance communication for and with people living with dementia.

    • A broader cultural perspective

      Learn how the arts can embrace a far-reaching cultural perspective to provide better opportunities for people living with dementia.

    • Conclusion

      Review what has been learned this week by completing the Test Yourself quiz questions, the Try-It-Yourself Exercise and post any questions or recommendations in the Communal Pinboard. Image credit: David Sandison/ Wellcome.

More courses you might like

Learners who joined this course have also enjoyed these courses.

©2025  onlincourse.com. All rights reserved