McConnell and Colleagues Submit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Application

Kudos to Eleanor McConnell and her university and community partners team for the submission of their Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – Systems for Action call for Systems and Services Research for a Culture of Health proposal entitled “Dementia Inclusive Communities: A systems alignment approach." This proposal requests funding for a two-year period with a start date of March 1, 2019.

Aims: In partnership with Dementia Inclusive Durham, we aim to implement a cross-sector dementia workforce development program, and evaluate the process and impact of implementation using a mixed methods design. Specifically we will examine:  a) the process of implementing a cross-sector, dementia capable workforce including community health workers, law enforcement personnel, direct care health workers, and health care professionals, to ensure that people with dementia are recognized, receive timely diagnostic evaluation and support, and equitable access to key dementia care supports and services;  b) the impact of workforce development on wellbeing of people living with dementia and wellbeing of those in their social networks;  c) the impact of workforce development on employee well-being and job mobility; and  d) the impact of workforce development on the connectedness across organizations in the medical, social service and public health sectors within Durham.