Dementia as another possible world: scientific dissemination actions

• Grant number: 24/05623-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Journalism
• Start date: August 01, 2024
• End date: July 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Communications
• Principal Investigator: Susana Oliveira Dias
• Grantee: Daniela Moreno Feriani
• Host Institution: Núcleo de Desenvolvimento da Criatividade (NUDECRI). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization report, only a quarter of countries around the world have a national policy, strategy or plan to support people with dementia and their families. The lack of planning and public commitment to deal with dementia is worsened by the growth of people with the disease: the WHO estimates that more than 55 million people (8.1% of women and 5.4% of men with more 65 years old) are living with dementia. This number is expected to rise to 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050. The report highlights the urgent need to strengthen support at national level, both in terms of care for people with dementia and support for people providing this care, in formal and informal contexts, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In addition to medical practices, changing the view of dementia contributes to a more efficient implementation of public policies and more successful care management. Expanding the understanding of dementia as a plural and complex experience, as another way of life, beyond the fatalism and pathologization of biomedical discourse, is fundamental to advancing awareness and an action plan in relation to a disease that requires broad measures and complementary prevention, treatment, support, inclusion. It is in this direction that this project intends to contribute through actions to disseminate the scientific knowledge that I have produced over 10 years of research on dementia, which bring a new way of seeing, understanding and dealing with the disease, in dialogue with the research carried out and in development of the Interaction, Cognition and Multimodality Research Group (InCoMul) and the Language and Cognition Laboratory (LabLinc), coordinated by Fernanda Miranda da Cruz, both at Unifesp. Of particular interest are studies on multimodal resources (verbal aspects, gestures, body and material world) in interactions with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and people with dementia. In addition to these groups, which will contribute to the development of scientific knowledge, this project will join forces with others to think about and experiment with methodologies that make research materials accessible to larger and more diverse audiences, such as Revista ClimaCom Cultura Científica and Labjor - Laboratório of Advanced Studies in Journalism / Unicamp, the research group MultiTÃO / Unicamp, La'Grima - Anthropological Laboratory of Graph and Image / Unicamp and C.E.I - Santi Capriotti Educational Center. With this, the project proposes to produce written and audiovisual content with accessible language on websites, magazines, social networks and through workshops, lectures and exhibitions, contributing to the improvement of social and family life with people suffering from dementia, as well as for discussion of issues related to diversity and inclusion, topics that are so important and urgent that they deserve greater publicity in society.