Carma Bylund, Public Relations associate professor at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) and associate professor in the Division of Hematology & Oncology at the UF College of Medicine, and Melissa Armstrong, UF College of Medicine associate professor of Neurology, have been awarded a $375,000 grant to study how people with dementia, their family members and doctors experience the delivery of such a diagnosis — what went well and what did not.

Given a current lack of standards about how and when dementia diagnoses are communicated, the three-year consortium grant through the Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program of the Florida Department of Health aims to develop proposed best-practice standards for how to give a diagnosis of dementia to patients and families. The proposed best-practice standards will take into account the views of patients with memory/thinking problems, families and healthcare professionals.

While current research suggests that people living with memory and thinking problems and their families want to know what’s wrong and have a diagnosis, doctors may not feel confident in the diagnosis or that a diagnosis would change treatment for the patient.

Bylund and Armstrong will examine this issue by interviewing people with memory/thinking problems, family members and doctors to learn about the challenges in receiving and giving a diagnosis of dementia.

Posted: May 18, 2020
Category: College News
Tagged as: Carma Bylund, Dementia