This programme addressed an emerging situation affecting people with dementia who, mainly due to policy developments such as Scotland’s National Dementia Strategy, have received an early diagnosis of dementia and have now been living with dementia for 5 plus years. Some of these people have coined the phrase ‘the new dementia’ because their experience defies dominant medical understandings of the middle stage of dementia. People in this group continue to lead active lives, and, while they do need support and may not be able to stay at home much longer, are not ready to move to institutional-like care homes.

This project aimed to support people with dementia, policy makers and other stakeholders in Scotland to learn from other places about alternative housing-with-care models, through a series of co-produced films, face to face workshops and a briefing paper. 

The aim of this project was twofold:

• to investigate alternative housing-with-care/care home models from overseas through experiential approaches, which enhance the meaningful involvement of people with dementia
• to facilitate cross-sector discussions on lessons to be taken from these models and applied to the Scottish context.