From 6–8 October I attended the 35th Alzheimer Europe Conference in Bologna, themed “Connecting science and communities.”
I presented a qualitative focus group study on professional caregivers’ experiences with impaired awareness in a session on rare dementias. During this session, I discussed the results with colleagues from across Europe and exchanged thoughts on related topics. Furthermore, I joined interesting sessions on a variety of topics, including nursing home care, palliative care, and co-creation that involved people with dementia as research partners. These sessions showed practical ways to include lived experience in study design, which was particularly inspiring. All in all, the visit helped me update my knowledge and refine how I will involve people with dementia in my future work. I return feeling inspired to apply these ideas to A&LL projects.