Professor Lily Xiao from Flinders University’s Caring Futures Institute has been successful in obtaining one of five Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration research grants.

The total funding pool of $1.8 million will support trials and studies to produce evidence interventions, promote practice change and inform policy. These projects provide vital insights into reducing dementia risk, improving accurate and timely diagnoses and establishing treatment and care options for people who live with dementia.

Professor Lily Xiao’s research project aims to strengthen partnerships with carers through innovative delivery of an Australian iSupport for Dementia program.

“Informal carers are the cornerstone of helping people with dementia remain at home for as long as possible. However, most are less prepared for their role than professional carers,” she says.

Professor Xiao’s team has helped develop the World Health Organization iSupport for Dementia resource, a comprehensive online dementia education and skill training program for informal carers.

“We will work with carers, hospital memory clinics and community aged care providers to implement the Australian iSupport program,” she says.

“The ultimate goal of this research is to provide multilingual iSupport programs for carers from culturally and linguistically diverse communities and therefore improve quality of life for people living with dementia and their carers in the community.”

Earlier this year the iSupport for Dementia program received a $400,000 grant from the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, an Australian Government initiative aiming to strengthen understanding and engagement between Australia and China.