Getting Home Safely with Dementia

Participate in research to help improve outcomes for people with dementia who go missing in Australia

People with dementia are at greater risk of getting lost and experiencing devastating outcomes as a result. Confusion about how to report a missing person with dementia to police could delay search efforts which can increase the risk of adverse outcomes.

We are leading research to help address this. To date we have:

  • Conducted a national survey to help us gauge the current understanding of procedures for reporting a missing person in Australia. (Phase 1)
  • Held online public consultation forums where we sought informed opinions from key stakeholders (members of general public, family carers of people with dementia, health professionals and police) about how to improve the health outcomes of missing persons with dementia. From these forums, a number of recommendations were made to both reduce the risks of a person living with dementia becoming lost and improve reporting procedures if someone does get lost. (Phase 2)

We have now started Phase 3 of this research where we are interviewing people living with dementia or memory problems about their views of the recommendations that came out of Phase 2. See details about participating in these interviews.

If you have any queries, please contact us:

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