Young Onset Dementia Reconsidered: A Solution-Focused Approach

The proposed book will be a positive, solution-based text based on research evidence and best practice about the distinctive issues arising for people living with young onset dementia (YOD) and their families, and the types of support that are helpful. Targeted at social and healthcare students and practitioners, those in the voluntary and community sectors, professionals in training, researchers and those living with YOD and their family members. Eighty percent of the estimated 42,000 people living with YOD in the UK are served by all age dementia rather than specialist YOD services, and staff in these services have little experience and knowledge of, or training in, caring for those with YOD. Often they lack the specialist knowledge to know how to help. Through this book we aim to arm all staff and carers with useful information that will give them confidence to be able to understand and support those affected.

As the range of support needs that can arise in YOD is broad, it is hard for staff to keep up with evidence outside their specific discipline, so this work will provide a valuable collection for those wanting to update their knowledge. Students and staff in training for health or social care roles often have generic training with little time in the curriculum for dementia, let alone young onset dementia, and the book will fill this gap.

Further, the text is designed to inspire dementia researchers to turn to this under-researched but impactful area.
Finally, people with a diagnosis and their family members are often discharged and left to fend for themselves following diagnosis with little to no recourse, support, or literature. This book will be written in an accessible way to provide a valuable source of information for those directly affected by young onset dementia, as well as their family and friends who are often their carers.