Lyn Phillipson

Across Australia and worldwide, Dementia Friendly Communities (DFCs) have emerged as both a social movement and a policy response to enable community dwelling people living with dementia and their care partners to live well.  However, whilst DFCs have been promoted as an effective approach to support wellbeing, there is a lack of available data to test this.  This research will support the development of a national evaluation framework and the conduct of local case studies to establish the factors that produce positive outcomes for people living with dementia and their carers in Australia. It will also establish the resources needed to create and sustain DFCs. The multi-methods study will support: co-design of an Australian DFC Evaluation Framework and indices, as well as piloting and use of the framework to develop six in-depth case studies. Evidence will be synthesised across cases to assess impact of the different models, and what sustains their outcomes. Results will support understanding of what works and what doesn’t work, with respect to designing, implementing and rolling out further DFCs in different community locations.