Jill Manthorpe outlines the importance of social workers in conducting dementia research, and why a new resource could be invaluable in helping them do this
S
ome social workers have mixed feelings about the commissioning and undertaking of research, particularly if it entails actively involving people with dementia. But it is indisputable that the number of studies conducted in care homes, and especially with residents who have the condition, is few. Seldom has the mantra ‘more research needed’ been more relevant. Only last month Professor Peter Piot,
director of the London School of Hygiene and 20 SOCIALWORKMATTERS APR12
Tropical Medicine, called on the World Health Organisation to add dementia to its list of top priority diseases to fund research and treatment across the globe. Whether his words can be translated into
Persuading care home managers
action remains to be seen. But, with 250,000 care home residents in Britain – two-thirds of the total – living with dementia, frontline social workers here are well placed to expand a knowledge base that remains disturbingly thin. Social workers know that, for some service