ESRC IAA PhD Student Community Outreach Fellowship: Helping Churches Become Dementia Friendly

Disgrifiad o Effaith

I will wrap up the Dementia Friendly Church Diocesan Training Day on 14 March 2017. One focus is churches as service centres for their communities. I am available to follow up with support for churches/mission areas wishing to become involved in Dementia Friendly Church. Participants asked to fill out questionnaire.
1. Name
2. Church/Mission/Ministry Area
3. One idea we might want to try in being dementia friendly: ____________________
4. I would like Bob Friedrich to contact our church/mission/ministry area for follow up and support ___________

I will schedule meetings, identifying the five strongest invitations. Look for spread that includes ministry in rural areas and towns; individual congregations and churches combined in mission/ministry areas. This will mean much driving, as they may be as far as Holyhead, the Llyn Peninsula and Welshpool.
I will:
1. Speak with clergy and lay contact
2. Schedule a date to meet with interested people
a. Have present Chris Roberts, person living with dementia and speaker on dementia
b. Describe ideas from other locations (e.g., memory cafes, dementia accessible worship services, transportation, public information sessions, visiting in residential care homes, support for carers)
c. Facilitate brain-storming for ministries appropriate to that location – looking for actions that will benefit church and community.
d. Appoint contact person
e. Distribute literature – such as “Developing a dementia-friendly church - a practical guide,” “Handbook for Worship – Dementia,” “Developing Dementia Friendly Churches”
4. At follow up meeting:
a. Group process to narrow brainstormed ideas to one or two for now
b. Facilitate working groups
c. Arrange for follow-up consultations, publicity in church and community
d. Provide seed money for projects such as memory cafes, dementia accessible worship services, transportation, public information sessions, visiting in residential care homes, support for carers.
5. Phone support
6. In three months hold follow up combined meeting for the five locations
a. Mutual support
b. Invite story telling - impact of actions on churches and communities
c. Record information gathered for impact assessment – noting differences between ministry in rural areas and towns; individual congregations and churches combined in mission/ministry areas
d. Document and analyse reports of persons with dementia and carers helped – within churches and in community.
7. Provide ongoing support for churches and mission areas as “chaplain” to dementia friendly churches
8. Beneficiaries of dementia ministry will be persons with dementia, carers, persons, agencies, and businesses where they live (from positive contact). Quality of life will be enhanced. Evidence will be gathered by interviewing persons effected. I will be nurturing congregations and clergy to continue projects on their own. I will continue to be available to them for support in coming months.

Disgrifiad o'r ymchwil sylfaenol

The research behind this is my (Robert Friedrich) PhD qualitative research in spirituality and dementia. My supervising committee are Bob Woods, Director of the Dementia Services Development Centre at Bangor University and Dr. Sion Williams, Senior Lecturer at Bangor University.

The project is “The Role of the Priest in Dementia Friendly Ministry.” The aim is to explore how churches can become supportive communities to persons with dementia and their carers.
In Phase I, I interviewed 10 Church in Wales priests about their experience working with persons with dementia and their carers, employing thematic analysis to identify commonalities.
In Phase, II I
1. Interviewed pioneers in the 2-3-year-old dementia friendly church movement in England, documenting histories and approaches.
2. Worked with churches in Llandudno in developing dementia friendly ministries.
3. Worked with stakeholders in the Diocese of St. Asaph to plan a major training day for clergy and laity on 14 March 2017 in Llangollen. Experts in their field will present, including experts by experience. Attendees will be able to learn and ask questions. At the end of the day they will be asked what next step their church may want to take.

Buddiolwyr a cyrhaeddiad effaith ymchwil

Stakeholders:
1. The Church in Wales Dioceses of St. Asaph and Bangor
2. Mission Areas (St. Asaph terminology) and Ministry Areas (Bangor terminology). These are functional groupings of individual churches (4 to 8 at a time) located in physical proximity and served by clergy groupings.

3. Individual churches (congregations)
End users/Beneficiaries:
1. Persons with dementia and carers who are members of the congregations
2. Persons with dementia and carers from the general public
3. Carers who are members of the congregation
4. Carers from the general public
5. Residential care homes and residents with dementia

Statws effaith	Cyfredol
Dyddiad effaith	1 Ebr 2017 → 30 Meh 2017