Hi - I hope you can help me. I am a researcher at Stirling University
in Scotland and have just started a research project looking ways of
improving the ability of people with dementia to communicate their
points of view and opinions. We are trying to focus on the well-being
of people with dementia, and I was hoping that some of you who have
first-hand experience of caring for people with dementia might find
time to let me know what sort of things you feel are important in the
lives of people with dementia.

We are looking particularly at the activities they enjoy/dislike, their
relationships with other people, their surroundings - i.e. what's
good and bad about where they live or spend large parts of their time
(i.e. if they go to any day centre), and importantly how they feel
about themselves.

Another area in which I would be interested in getting opinions is how
best to categorize the various stages of dementia.....we need to find a
means of distinguishing between early, middle and late stage dementia,
with a particular emphasis on people's ability to communicate during
these three stages, and although I do have some ideas (e.g. the MMSE),
it is not clear to me what would be the most appropriate.

Thanks in advance for any comments you have....