Dementia in Younger Ages Mapping Ideal Care (DYNAMIC)

Learn about the DYNAMIC study from the Department of Applied Dementia Studies

Project methods and findings

Work started by gathering information through two workstreams:

• Speaking in-depth with 33 people with lived experience of young onset dementia about their needs and experiences of social care
• Surveying 139 staff with knowledge of social care in England to gather their views on social care for people with young onset dementia and their families.
• Six common themes on potential areas for improving social care came from these two workstreams. These were:

1. 1. Navigation and continuity of support.
   2. Person-centred and age-appropriate support
   3. Finance
   4. Raising awareness
   5. Peer support
   6. Support for children

Stakeholder consensus workshop

Findings from the early work were fed back to a diverse group of relevant stakeholders, including professionals and people with lived experience of young onset dementia. Listening to this group helped identify two priority areas of improvement:

1. To raise awareness amongst social care staff about the social care needs of people with young onset dementia and their families  
2. To improve strategies for managing the financial impact of young onset dementia.

Examples of good practice

Examples of good practice in social care associated with the two priority areas were gathered by reviewing published evidence and speaking in depth to 13 professional staff to gather their views.

Those interviewed told us there is little time and money for training and training on dementia/young onset dementia is not mandatory. They gave us examples of how training could be integrated into services and how it works best.

They had ideas for what could improve financial management.

Developing resources

Using the information from all the previous work, small groups worked together to co-produce resources to address the priority areas. Each group included people living with young onset dementia, family carers, professional staff and relevant experts.

• Over a 3 to 4-month period the groups worked to produce two resources, each consisting of a short animation and accompanying written information.
• The raising awareness resource is targeted towards social workers and aims to be inclusive of South Asian communities.
• The animation on managing the financial impact is primarily targeted towards commissioners. The accompanying leaflet lists resources and is of use to people living with young onset dementia and professionals who support them.

Project output

The project ended in autumn 2025 with two well attended webinars hosted by Young Dementia Network.

Work continues to share widely the findings and resources from the project to influence people in practice, policy and those living with young onset dementia and their families.

Explore the DYNAMIC resources

Download the infographic which summarises the key themes and messages in the two key priority areas:

Acknowledgements 

The DYNAMIC study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research for Social Care (RfSC) Programme through grant NIHR204266.  

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. 

 

Additional acknowledgement

Young Dementia Network hosted by Dementia UK are a collaborator on the DYNAMIC project.

Contact the DYNAMIC team

To find out more about the study please contact Catherine Quinn (Joint Project Lead)

• Email: C.Quinn1@bradford.ac.uk.