Our current studies

CO-COG

CO-COG Study: Co-designed digital tool for people diagnosed with mild-to-moderate cognitive impairment.

The CO-COG Study is a feasibility study for a new smartphone app, created for people diagnosed with cognitive impairment or their care giver to self-report health and wellbeing indicators.

Researchers at the University of Surrey have co-designed and co-produced this app together with people with lived experience of dementia or mild cognitive impairment. The aim of the tool is to identify important changes to health and wellbeing so that patients can receive appropriate advice and support. Reporting this data regularly and remotely should be valuable to patients, care givers, and workforce to identify potential problems at an early stage. In the CO-COG study, we will recruit a group of people with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or dementia to use the app at home. Once participants have used the app for a while, they will provide feedback on the usability, accessibility and usefulness of the app in an interview. We will also present the data provided by the app to a group of health and care workers and ask them to evaluate the clinical utility of the tool in an interview.

The information gathered from this study will inform the design of a larger study to confirm the usefulness of the digital tool.

Memory and the Menopause

Memory and the menopause: Do mid-life changes in estrogen differentially affect cognition in carriers of an APOE e4 genetic risk variant for Alzheimer's Disease?

Women make up two-thirds of those living with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease. There is evidence that menopause, a biological stage characterised by a drop in the hormone estrogen, contributes to this difference in prevalence.   Many women report changes in their thinking during menopause, including short-term memory loss.  However, the relevance of these changes for a woman’s risk of developing dementia in the future is poorly understood.  To improve menopause symptoms (e.g., hot flushes), women are often prescribed hormone (estrogen) replacement therapy (HRT). HRT may reduce the risk of future Alzheimer’s Disease; however, reported benefits are inconsistent. Our genes may play a role in both whether menopause has longer-term, disadvantageous effects on brain health, and whether HRT can reduce a woman’s future dementia risk.  

We are completing research to test if female carriers of an APOE e4 gene – a strong and prevalent risk factor for Alzheimer’s -, show greater memory change during and after menopause than women who don’t carry this gene. In addition, this project seeks to establish if HRT differentially benefits cognition in this at-risk group.

This project adopts a mixed-methods (qualitative interviews, cognitive assessment, genetics) approach to address these aims, including:

1) focus-groups with women affected by menopause and medical specialists to understand what we need to consider when assessing menopause-related cognitive change.

2) Utilisation of online, digital cognitive assessment (including spatial navigation, raw-speech markers, and tests of attentional control) to understand how menopause impacts brain health in a large sample of individuals with known APOE genotype.

3) Research in NHS primary care and specialist menopause clinics to understand if there is a long-term effect of HRT on cognition and whether predicted beneficial effects are greater in those carrying a genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s Disease. 

Cognitive Epidemiology, Dementia, and Ageing Research (CEDAR) Lab

CEDAR lab focuses on the role of biopsychosocial factors on cognitive ageing, cerebrovascular and dementia risk, ensuring a multidisciplinary approach across neuroscience, psychology, epidemiology, and public health perspectives. We aim to investigate modifiable risk factors, biological mechanisms, disease progression and the impact of disease on the individual’s quality of life. From the range of modifiable risk factors, we examine the cognitive and psychosocial assets (e.g., cognitive reserve, social connections, cultural and community engagement), psychological and socioeconomic stressors, as well as social deficits (e.g., loneliness, isolation and social restrictions).

Read more about CEDAR Lab > 

Cognitive Frailty Study

The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the concept of cognitive frailty and its risk factors associated as perceived by the general public and healthcare professionals in the UK. The study is funded by UKRI under the Cognitive Frailty Network and hosted by BSMS in collaboration with investigators from Lancaster University and Heriot-Watt University.

With this study we wish to gain a better understanding of how cognitive frailty is perceived as a concept by the general public as well as healthcare professionals and what constitutes risk factors for cognitive frailty.

READ MORE ABOUT THE STUDY >

Phd studies

Dementia, diabetes and mental health (Dr Ain Nizam)

Dr Ain Nizam is currently undertaking a part-time PhD in dementia, diabetes, and mental health under the supervision of Prof Naji Tabet, Dr Dorina Cadar and Prof Jorg Huber. Her research aims to investigate the effects of pre-existing type 2 diabetes and dementia on the way people present to the memory clinic, their diagnosis, outlook, mental health, and carer support. Her project involves a feasibility observational study of people with dementia and diabetes based at the Dementia Research Unit at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT), as well as the use of the Clinical Records Interactive Search System (CRIS). CRIS is managed by Akrivia Health, which securely holds pseudo-anonymised data on Carenotes, the electronic patient health record system used by SPFT, for research purposes. In addition, she is a part-time General and Old Age Psychiatry higher specialist trainee working in the NHS.

Determinants of dementia attitudes in young people (Esra Hassan)

The project is looking at what socio-demographic factors such as sex, age and ethnicity as well as other factors relating to dementia attitudes such as level of contact with dementia, level of knowledge of dementia and empathy are related to positive or negative dementia attitudes in adolescents (aged 11-18 years old). The project has recruited over 1600 adolescents across six regions of England. There is a growing number of young people who have come across someone living with dementia and are future healthcare professionals and carers for dementia. It is therefore important to capture young people's experiences of dementia. The project aims to understand the relationships between the factors associated with dementia attitudes and how attitudes may form in the first place to provide an evidence base for future anti-stigma and dementia awareness initiatives so that they are maximally effective in this age group. 

Show and tell: Using Photovoice to explore the experiences of LGBTQ+ people living with dementia’ (John Hammond)

This PhD research will use the Photovoice research method as a creative approach to increase our understanding of the complexities of LGBTQ+ identity and how this is lived and experienced over time alongside living with dementia. 

PhotoVoice draws on participatory action research methodologies.  It is the most commonly used participatory technique to understand the experiences of people living with dementia and has also been used with marginalised and vulnerable groups.  However, it has never been used with LGBTQ+ people living with dementia.  Using PhotoVoice, participants take photographs of things that are important to them to illustrate their personal situations.  Their images are supported by their explanatory narratives and form a visual record that can be used to engage people in critical thought and discussion about their communities. 

The findings will build on the scarcity of research that has explored the experiences of LGBTQ+ people living with dementia and have the potential to inform both policies within the dementia agenda and practices within health and social care provision.

OASIS (optimising an intervention for sensory hallucinations): A novel adaptation of the Coping Strategy Enhancement intervention, for hallucinatory experiences in the context of dementia (Amaani Al-Azzawi)

Hallucinatory Experiences (HEs) in Dementia present as a relatively prevalent issue and they can cause distress to both the person living with dementia (PLWD) and their carers. HEs historically have been treated with anti-psychotic medication, which have shown to have negative physical health side effects such as stroke. There are currently no non-pharamcological interventions that support HEs in PLWD. This PhD project will consist of two studies. OASIS seeks to adapt an intervention, that is currently utilised in NHS settings for voice hearing, to the context of dementia. This intervention is called the Coping Strategy Enhancement (CSE), which has foundations in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which aims to reduce the associated distress that can come with hallucinations. This will be adapted thorough a co-adaptation with people of lived experience, then tested in an uncontrolled feasibility trial with PLWD and their carers. A second study will employ a large scale survey that will explore clinicians’ experiences of working with PLWD.