Assess Community Members | Dementia Capable …



Community members often encounter people with dementia during the course of their work. Having a comfort level for interacting with people with dementia and an awareness of when additional assistance is needed can impact the quality of life for people with dementia and their families. Awareness is among the key elements in a dementia capable community and it is necessary to support all of the other

key elements.

[pic]

The information gathered here supports a portion of a full Community Needs Assessment. Each survey question is cross-referenced to the full assessment. It will help you rate your community members’ current level of awareness of dementia and skill in interacting with clients/citizens who might have dementia.

These questions can be investigated by anyone on the Action Team. You may want to make a list of business associations, chambers of commerce, faith communities, senior centers, and service clubs. Depending on the size of your community or how well you know your community, ask the following questions of leaders that represent each type of community member or ask a sample of people that represent these community members.

Assessing Community Members for a Dementia Capable Community

1. Review the information and resources on the ACT on Alzheimer’s Dementia Capable Communities Toolkit website related to Awareness to have a general familiarity when discussing the topic

with others.

2. Develop a list of the names of the different organizations and local businesses to contact in your community (include banks, barber shops/hair salons, clergy, dentists, eye doctors, grocery stores, hearing aid professionals, landlords of senior apartments, retail pharmacies, post office, senior centers, service clubs (e.g., Lions, VFW), volunteer service organizations (e.g., Meals on Wheels, senior companions) and youth groups.

3. Prioritize and determine which organizations to contact.

4. Identify the appropriate contact(s) in each organization.

5. Keep track of your data sources, including who you interview and their responses to the questions in your interview.

6. Create a code for each interviewee, using the sector abbreviation, plus a number. For example, community member interviewees would be CM1 for first interviewee, CM2 for second, etc.

7. Use the Community Information Gathering - Survey/Call Script to introduce yourself and the project.

8. Conduct interviews.

9. After your information gathering, organize the data and summarize it in the Synthesizing the Assessment – Team Worksheet, which will be the basis for how your community rates its current level of activity and prioritizes what to focus on.

Interviewer/Your Name Date of Interview

Community Member/Interviewee Interviewee Code: CM

Name

Title

Address

Phone

Email

1. Have you had personal experience with someone with dementia? ☐ Yes ☐ No

Awareness - B

10. This question asks about your level of knowledge of the warning signs of dementia. (6a in full assessment)

(10 warning signs: 1) Memory loss that disrupts daily life. 2) Challenges in planning or solving problems. 3) Difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, at work or at leisure. 4) Confusion with time or place. 5) Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships. 6) New problems with words in speaking or writing. 7) Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps. 8) Decreased or poor judgment. 9) Withdrawal from work or social activities. 10) Changes in mood and personality.)

|Level of knowledge of the |Priority for Action |

|warning signs of dementia | |

|Indicate your level of knowledge of the warning signs of dementia. |Indicate your level of agreement with this statement: Increasing community members’ |

| |knowledge about the warning signs of dementia should be a priority for action in our |

| |community. |

|1. Very low |1. Strongly disagree |

|2. Low |2. Disagree |

|3. Moderate |3. Neither agree or disagree |

|4. High |4. Agree |

|5. Very high |5. Strongly agree |

|0. Do not know |0. Do not know |

What opportunities do you see for community members to know the warning signs of dementia? What barriers do you see?

11. This question asks about your skills for interacting with people who have dementia. (Skills for interacting with people with dementia include knowing when to repeat information or suggesting a family member should participate in conversations.) (6b in full assessment)

|Skills for interacting with people with dementia |Priority for Action |

|Indicate your level of agreement with this statement: I have good skills |Indicate your level of agreement with this statement: Increasing community members’ |

|for interacting with people with dementia. |skills for interacting with people with dementia should be a priority for action in |

| |our community. |

|1. Strongly disagree |1. Strongly disagree |

|2. Disagree |2. Disagree |

|3. Neither agree or disagree |3. Neither agree or disagree |

|4. Agree |4. Agree |

|5. Strongly agree |5. Strongly agree |

|0. Do not know |0. Do not know |

What opportunities do you see for community members to have good skills for interacting with people with dementia? What barriers do you see?

12. How would you rate your ability to make referrals to support services (such as Alzheimer’s Association, Senior LinkAge Line, family physician) for people with dementia and their families? (6c in full assessment)

|Ability to make referrals to support services |Priority for Action |

|Indicate your ability to make referrals to support services for people |Indicate your level of agreement with this statement: Increasing community members’ |

|with dementia and their families. |ability to make referrals to support services should be a priority for action in our |

| |community. |

|1. Very low |1. Strongly disagree |

|2. Low |2. Disagree |

|3. Moderate |3. Neither agree or disagree |

|4. High |4. Agree |

|5. Very high |5. Strongly agree |

|0. Do not know |0. Do not know |

What opportunities do you see for community members to make referrals to support services for people with dementia and their families? What barriers do you see?

General

Would you be interested in playing a greater role to help us implement this project in our community?

Suggestions:

• Serve on a coalition

• Serve on a task force or committee

• Public endorsement/testimonial

• Appoint a person to work on the project

• Donate resources, i.e., meeting space, advertising, personnel, funds, etc.

Could you suggest other organizations/groups in our community who could take part in

this project?

Are there any other suggestions or ideas that you can give me as we prepare to get this

project started?

Are there any questions you would like to ask me?

Thank you for your time and support.

Would you like me to be in touch with you again to let you know how the project is progressing and how you can best help to ensure is becoming more dementia capable?

☐ Yes ☐ No

Reference: Minnesota Department of Health, Community Health Promotion—Mobilizing Your Community to Promote Health, , viewed 6/29/12.

-----------------------

Dementia Capable Communities Toolkit

Community Needs Assessment — Community Member Survey

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download