Research and Transfer
Scientists from the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences undertake research into dementia
World Alzheimer's Day on 21st September this year has the motto "Dementia: its various forms", thus drawing attention to the different varieties and manifestations of this disease. Dementia is being dealt with at the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences in Wolfenbüttel: Prof Sandra Müller from the Faculty of Social Work has been doing research on dementia disorders in people with intellectual disabilities, along with her working group "Intellectual disabilities and dementia", in a variety of projects since 2011.
The team led by Sandra Müller is working in a particularly practical manner, and is cooperating with various stakeholders in the region, for example, with the charity Lebenshilfe Braunschweig and the Evangelische Stiftung [Evangelical Foundation] Neuerkerode. The projects are looking at both the early detection of dementia and the question of age-appropriate leisure opportunities. Regardless of their respective research foci, all the projects are aiming to improve the quality of life people with intellectual disabilities who have dementia. And they've been successful: the concepts developed by the working group "Creative story-making", to promote creativity and imagination in people with dementia, and "Wake-up words" are already being used in the cooperation partners' facilities. For their work, the scientists Sandra Müller and her colleague Dr. Bettina Kuske, also from the Faculty of Social Work, were labelled as "exemplary" in last year's good-practice competition.
In the context of their work, the project coordinator Sandra Müller and her team managed to develop a test procedure for the early detection of dementia in people with intellectual disabilities. The Wolfenbüttel researchers, in developing the procedure signals, have filled a large gap in the German-speaking world. The dementia test for people with intellectual disabilities (German acronym: DTIM) will shortly be published by Hogrefe Verlag für Psychologie.
Please contact Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Sandra Verena Müller for more information.
