3-day Training Programme on Prevention and Care of Dementia

According to the World Alzheimer's Report 2015, over 4.1 million people are affected with dementia in India. Studies reveal that after 60 years of age the incidence of dementia doubles with every 5 years. The awareness about dementia in India is very low. Moreover, the social stigma attached to it prevents family members from seeking support.

Dementia describes a set of symptoms that may include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem-solving or language. These changes are often small to start with, but for someone with dementia they have become severe enough to affect their daily life. A person with dementia may also experience changes in their mood or behaviour. Dementia is caused when the brain is damaged by diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease or a series of strokes. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, but not the only one. The specific symptoms that someone with dementia experiences will depend on the parts of the brain that are damaged and the disease that is causing the dementia.

The National Institute of Social Defence (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,

Government of India), in association with Nightingales Medical Trust conducted a three days Training programme on Prevention and Care of Dementia in association with Department of Geriatric Medicine, Shri BM Patil Medical College Hospital and RC, Vijayapura District, Karnataka from 04th to 05th January 2024. There were 26 participants who attended the training programme.

The aim and objective of this training program is to create awareness about Alzheimer's disease and Dementia among the functionaries of old age homes and health care professionals to help them in the process of identification and care of persons with dementia and to also look into ways of ensuring the risk of dementia is reduced through preventive health initiatives.

DAY 1 :

The training started with registration, introduction of NMT and NISD and role of RRTC, and pre-assessment was taken by Mr. Praveen Kumar, Project Executive, RRTC, NMT, Bangalore.

Session 1 

The first session was conducted by Dr. Manjunath Masati, who spoke about the understanding Dementia and its type. With a PPT presentation explained how people understand about dementia, what are the common types of dementia? Explained in detail Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia and mixed dementia. Dementia is not a specific disease but rather a general term for the impaired ability to remember, think or making decisions that interferes with doing every day activities. Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia and it mostly affects older adults.

Session 2

Second session was conducted by Dr. SP Chaukimath on memory loss in aging and its type. He explained Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a set of symptoms, including impairment in memory, reasoning, judgement, language and other thinking skills. It usually begins gradually worsens over time and impairs a person's ability to work, social interaction and relationships. He shared his practical experience that he got by interacting and treating patients over several years.

Session 3

Session 3 was conducted by Dr. Muddasir Indikar, he explained in detail the stages of dementia with a practical example for each stages.

• Listen to music together and don't be afraid to sing along
• Keep a journal tracking daily activities and exercising memory call
• Create a box filled with photos and memory filled objects
• Take dance break
• Involve them in crafty or pick up a paint brush
• Cross word puzzles, word games, word searches, anagrams and more focus on language word recall and word arrangement.

Fourth session was conducted by Dr. Santhosh Ramdurg on cognitive screening training. He explained how to screen a patient with dementia with a complete details of the cognitive abilities screening instrument has a score range of 0 to 100 and provides quantitative assessment on attention, concentration, language abilities, visual construction, and list generating fluency, abstraction and judgement. He conducted demo session with participants to see how much they have grasp the knowledge of screening the dementia patient.

Day 3

Short review of the 2 ^nd day's session was discussed. Participants were able to recall whatever they learned in the previous day.

Session 1

Was conducted by Dr Anand P Ambali on Environment, Wandering, Restrain and fall. It was an interactive session where participants were given opportunity to share their experience of handling seniors in their old age home and the problems of falling and environment changes were shared by the participants.

Later he explained that familiarity with environment and routine is important for a person with dementia. The home environment should help them to know where they are and help them find where they want to go. The triggers can vary from person to person depending on their individual background and life style.

• Pay attention to the patient behavioural patterns associated with wandering
• Observe possible triggers
• Address the triggers in person cantered care plan
• Understand that a patient condition and behaviours can change, continue periodic assessment

2 ^nd session was conducted by Dr Santhosh Randurg on assessment of resident's abilities and back ground (identifying patients of dementia in general OAH). Interacted with group and said that people with dementia have symptoms of cognitive decline that interfere with daily life including disruption in language, memory, attention, recognition, problem solving and decision making.

Also explained care planning in OAH

• Try to keep a routine, such as bathing, dressing and eating at the same time each day
• Help the person write down to do lists, appointment and events in a note book or calendar.
• Plan activities that the person enjoys and try to do them at the same time each day
• Consider a system or reminders for helping those who must take medications regularly.
• When dressing and bathing allow the person to do as much as possible.
• Be gentle and respectful, tell the person what you are going to do step by step while you help them bathe or get dressed
• Serve meal in a consistent, familiar place and give the person enough place to eat.

Was taken by Ms Asha Dsouza about staffing pattern or human resource management for effective management of dementia. She spoke about team work first and how it is important to be an inclusive organisation. Staff welfares have to be in place, staff support to be given in difficult situations and handling them well will benefit in staff retention. She also spoke about time management in NGO or care homes. Time is so precious and has to be used systematically. So it will bring about the expected results and vision of the organisation. We grow and help each others who work for us also grow.

Session 4

Was conducted by final year students on discussion of screening results and group activity and post assessment. The participants were divided in to 6 groups and given each group different topics explained in 3 days. Some practical situation were given to the group to discuss and any one person can share the points discussed in the group. It was a fruitful session where every member contributed and gained knowledge on prevention and care of dementia.

CONCLUSION

A training programme concluded with a valedictory function. The guests for the programme were Dr. Kavitha Doddamani, District surveillance officer, NCD and NPHCE CELL, Vijayapuara and Dr. Rajesh Honnutagi, Medical superintendent, BLDE DU, Sri BM Patil Medical college hospital and research centre . They spoke on the the importance of training especially in the field of geriatric care and geriatric mental health.

The training ended with a good note where 5-6 participants came forward to give a good feedback. They expressed that the training was very informative and helped them to become aware about Dementia, the warning signs and identification process which was very important in their work area.

The training program helped participants with not only theoretical knowledge but also practical insights into the field of dementia prevention and care. They expressed that the engaging sessions and the interactive activities collectively contributed to a comprehensive learning experience for all participants.

List of Participants

Day 1

TOPIC	TIME	Faculty
Pre Assessment (NM T)	IO.OOAM -10.30AM	Online
Session-I
Understanding Dementia and its Types	10.30AM -11.45AM	Dr Manjunath Masali
TEA BREAK- 11.45 to 12PM
SESSION -Il
Memory Loss in Aging and Early Diagnosis	11.45 AM -OI.OOPM	Dr S P Chaukimath
LUNCH BREAK OI.OOPM - 2.OOPM
SESSION-I"
Stages of Dementia	02.OOPM-3.15PM	Dr Muddasir Indikar
TEA BREAK- 3.OOPM -3.19M
SESSION-IV
Case studies and Group Activity	3.15 to 4.30pm	All faculties

Faculty Details:

No	Name	Designation and Address	E mail Id
1	Dr S P Chaukimath	Professor Department of Psychiatry BLDE DU, Shri B M Patil Medical College Hospital and RC, Vijayapura	spchaukimath@yahoo.com
2	Dr Santosh Ramdurg	Prof and Head, Department of Psychiatry BLDE DU, Shri B M Patil Medical College Hospital and RC, Vijayapura	santoshramdurg@gmail.com
3	Dr Manjunath Masali	Consultant Psychiatrist	maniunathmasali@gmail.com