A unique Knowledge Exchange partnership between the University of Hull and Butterflies Memory Loss Support Group is providing “powerful answers” in our understanding of dementia.
Butterflies is a social group for people with dementia - and for people caring for someone who has dementia - which meets weekly in Hull. Looking at changes in behaviour when experiencing dementia, the group offer ways to avoid flash points and provide coping strategies identified by people with dementia to share with their families and carers.
As our new film shows, the University has helped Butterflies staff feel confident talking to people living with dementia about their wellbeing and has explored how members can use art to express their feelings.
Creative ways to evaluate the impact of Butterflies’ work have also been suggested, while researchers and clinicians have helped the group members create a book – by people with dementia for people with dementia.
Emma Wolverson, Senior Lecturer Ageing and Dementia at the University of Hull, is the research partner on this innovative project. She said: “This partnership has been a great way for the University dementia research team to build connections with local people living with dementia.
“It has also been an important way to support a local charity that is doing great work in supporting people with dementia. In addition, the work has strengthened the relationship between the University and Butterflies - we already have a number of plans to keep working together.”
June Cooke, CEO and Facilitator of Butterflies, added: “Butterflies started life as a social group for people with dementia. It’s about building confidence and giving people their life back. The University of Hull gave us the opportunity to get some really powerful answers that a blank questionnaire doesn’t get. It doesn't open someone’s soul whereas the artwork, for example, does.”
The partnership is part of the Ideas Fund, which allows community groups and the University of Hull researchers to work together to address problems related to mental wellbeing.
The grant scheme, run by the British Science Association (BSA) and funded by the Wellcome Trust, sees researchers from the University invited to work with community groups. This puts the communities first, enabling them to co-create ideas through knowledge exchange. Projects span a range of topics from sport, arts, nature and nutrition to issues faced by varied age groups, which include people who experience disability, are refugees and the LGBTQ+ communities.
The Ideas Fund is just one example of the University of Hull’s ground-breaking Knowledge Exchange projects. The University has been recognised nationally for this work in the latest Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF), published by Research England, where the results saw the University classed as having ‘Very High Engagement’, the highest ranking in this category.
