Staff in the school have won funding from the university's Community University Partnership Project (CUPP) for a small pilot study seeking to explore the role of dance in maintaining and developing relationships between people with dementia, and between people with dementia and those who care for and support them.
The research sits within the context of the growing body of work on the use of creative therapies with people with dementia. The pilot seeks to develop the thinking around the use of dance as a communication mechanism particularly focusing on the potential to increase social interaction and to recognise the importance of the relational network in care for people with dementia.
This is a joint project between academics at the University of Brighton and the University of Chichester, creative practitioners, and local authority staff from Brighton & Hove City Council. The project seeks to gather data on the impact of a series of dance movement sessions at a day centre in Brighton and Hove. Data will be gathered through engagement and observation by researchers and staff involved in delivering the sessions, through interviews with participants and their carers and from reflections recorded by staff working with the participants.
The project commenced in January 2011 and will be completed by April 2011. Findings from the pilot will be disseminated to those involved with the project and more broadly, and will assist with bids to fund further work.
If you would be interested in hearing more about the pilot or our interest in this area of research please contact Naomi Smith, Research Fellow in SSPARC at the University of Brighton, telephone 01273 644530, email: nms4@brighton.ac.uk
