MSc Advanced Leadership for Professional Practice (Nursing) / Course details

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Dementia: A Person Centred Approach

Course unit fact file
Unit code NURS63570
Credit rating 15
Unit level FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree
Teaching period(s) Variable teaching patterns
Available as a free choice unit? Yes

Overview

This online unit is aimed at a wide range of staff who are engaged in the support and care of people who are living with dementia and their supporters/carers. It is suitable for people working across a range of services and settings in health and social care and also in wider community initiatives. Many of our students work in nursing and other allied healthcare professions. There is specialist content specifically for those working in: optometry, audiology and speech and language therapy.

The unit will critically explore best practice, informed by a person-centred perspective. It will examine current research evidence, theory and first person experiences of people who are living with dementia.  Students will use this understanding to critically reflect and plan where changes can be made to enhance the care, support and well-being of people who are living with dementia within the student’s particular area of practice/interest. 

Online teaching utilises both asynchronous (study at your own pace) and synchronous (live) methods. Teaching has been developed by experts in the field including practitioners and people who are living with dementia. It employs a variety of creative approaches. There will be the option of face-face seminars on campus as an alternative to live online seminars depending on demand.

Aims

The unit will critically explore best practice, informed by a person-centred perspective. It will examine current research evidence, theory and first person experiences of people who are living with dementia.  Students will use this understanding to critically reflect and plan where changes can be made to enhance the care, support and well-being of people who are living with dementia within the student’s particular area of practice/interest. 

Teaching and learning methods

  • Teaching and learning will be via online asynchronous material and weekly (live) synchronous sessions
  • There will be the option of face-to-face seminars on campus as an alternative to online seminars depending on demand
  • Guest speakers with lived experience of dementia will contribute to teaching
  • The online Blackboard learning environment will be utilised for learning, including discussion groups, access to resources and submission of formative and summative work.

Knowledge and understanding

  • Demonstrate a critical understanding of holistic, person centred explanations of dementia and factors that influence individual experience
  • Critically apply a person centred understanding of factors that can positively or negatively impact on the well-being of people living with dementia
  • Explore first-person accounts of living with dementia and critically reflect on the implications of these with regard to their own area of practice/interest

Intellectual skills

  • Critically evaluate and synthesise research, theory and policy specifically relevant to dementia in their own area of practice/interest
  • Critically reflect on assessments, interventions and/or practices relevant to dementia in their own area of practice/interest
  • Apply a critical understanding of evidence to explore person centred changes to their own area of practice/interest

Practical skills

  • Demonstrate skills in critical synthesis, reflection and identification & interpretation of first person perspectives
  • Demonstrate skills in leadership and partnership working via discussion, debate and shared learning
  • Demonstrate skills in communication specific to people living with dementia

Transferable skills and personal qualities

  • Communicate effectively and sensitively (verbal, non-verbal, written).
  • Develop and utilise IT skills.
  • Demonstrate research and enquiry skills by accessing and analysing literature in order to inform practice.
  • Develop logical and systematic approaches to problem solving.
  • Reflect on own academic and clinical performance and utilise strategies to improve these.

Assessment methods

Method Weight
Written assignment (inc essay) 100%

Feedback methods

Students will normally have the opportunity to receive feedback on formative work submitted prior to the summative assessment. Other feedback opportunities will also be available in class and online discussion boards. Online feedback is provided in Grademark. Provisional feedback based on internal marking will be made available prior to the Exam Board on the basis that these marks are yet to be ratified at the Exam Board and therefore may be subject to change. A standard feedback mechanism in Grademark is utilised across all postgraduate programmes within the School which provides detailed and constructive feedback on each component and aspect of assessment and identifies areas of strength and those aspects which could be enhanced.

Student feedback is obtained through open discussion forums on blackboard, in class discussions, via formal University unit evaluation forms and also qualitative, in house evaluations at the end of the unit. 

Recommended reading

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 40
Tutorials 2
Independent study hours
Independent study 108

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Simon Burrow Unit coordinator

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