An innovative research program led by Western Sydney University researchers is calling adults over 55 years old to be part of a new pilot program tackling dementia in rural, regional and remote areas.
The Brain Bootcamp Frontiers program, originally founded by Dr Joyce Siette from the University’s MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, aims to improve awareness and decrease dementia risk by providing information and resources to help create and sustain healthy brain behaviours.
The highly successful program is now expanding further into rural areas to reach older people living in the nation’s rural communities who have a higher risk of dementia.
Led by PhD candidate Laura Dodds, also from the MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, the new program has been tailored to support brain health and meet the needs of older people living rurally.
“The risk of dementia is higher for individuals living in regional areas, most likely because the presence of modifiable risk factors in rural areas are much higher than in urban communities, with issues around alcohol use, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure more prevalent,” said Laura.
“This program incorporates evidence-based techniques to support the development of new habits to support healthy ageing. These techniques build on our previous program where we used several different activities to encourage seniors to tackle different modifiable risk factors to help reduce their dementia risk.”
People participating in the program will have the opportunity to receive a bespoke Brain Bootcamp Frontiers box which contains brain health items and resources to use over the 9 month program.
The box will be provided for free to help them set goals, track, and evaluate their progress and participants will also engage in regular online brain health surveys and memory assessments via telephone.
“We’re hoping this tailored program will have a real impact in reducing dementia risk, and increase dementia awareness in rural communities, including improving cognitive performance in the long-term,” said Laura.
“I would encourage anyone who is wanting to improve their brain function and be dementia aware to sign up and take part.”
A previous Brain Bootcamp participant who lives rurally said of the program: “I had no idea how much an influence different parts of your life affect dementia. Just the practicalities that Brain Bootcamp reminded me of, that’s the type of thing that was really good.”
Brain Bootcamp Frontiers is a research program run by researchers from Western Sydney University and Macquarie University.
