Amy Veale

amy-veale

PhD Student TAnDem Doctoral Training Centre

School of Allied Health and Community

Contact Details

email: a.veale@worc.ac.uk
tel: 01905 542468

Amy is a full-time PhD student based at the Association for Dementia Studies. She is researching how arts activities provide meaningful engagement for people living with dementia in a residential care setting. Amy is one of a cohort of PhD students working as part of ‘The Arts and Dementia’ (TAnDem) Doctoral Training Centre, which has been established to investigate the potential of the creative arts for people with dementia. The Doctoral Training Centre is funded by the Alzheimer’s Society and is jointly hosted by the University of Worcester and the University of Nottingham,

Amy has worked with older people for the past 10 years, with a particular focus on advocacy and research. Between 2007 and 2015, Amy worked for Age NI (the Northern Ireland equivalent of Age UK) and held various roles including Policy Officer and Research Manager. As a Churchill Fellow (2015), Amy spent six weeks in North America observing a range of arts activities for people with dementia. It was during this time that she developed an interest in the potential of the arts to provide meaningful engagement for people living with dementia in care homes.

Qualifications:

MSc Social Research Methods (2012) Queen’s University Belfast; School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work.

BSc Psychology (2007) Queen’s University Belfast; School of Psychology

Research and Knowledge Transfer

Research and Knowledge Transfer

Amy is a full-time PhD student working as part of a cohort of students at ‘The Arts and Dementia’ (TAnDem) Doctoral Training Centre.

Amy’s PhD research is focused on engagement, and will explore how arts based activities can be delivered in a way that promotes meaningful engagement for residents in a care home setting. Amy is being supervised by Professor Dawn Brooker at the University of Worcester, Professor Amanda Griffiths at the University of Nottingham, and Dr Simon Evans at the University of Worcester.   

PhD title: How do arts activities successfully engage individuals with dementia in a care home setting? (2015-2018). 

Knowledge Transfer

In addition to her PhD, Amy also has an interest in the ethics of developing film with people with dementia as a medium for knowledge transfer. Amy has been involved in overseeing the ethical processes for a number of advocacy and educational film projects in ADS:

  • The LINK Group project which will create a set of short films, tailored to the needs of the education and training delivered by the Association for Dementia Studies and the wider Institute of Health & Society at the University of Worcester. The films will present the authentic voices of people affected by dementia through the accounts and experiences of the LINK Group, which comprises people living with dementia, and carers for people with dementia. 
  • The Meeting Centres Support Programme UK film project, which was developed as part of the MEETINGDEM project, supported through the EU Joint Programme - Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND). The Meeting Centres Support Programme (MSCP) provides an innovative way of supporting people with mild to moderate dementia and their families through an evidence-based, person-centred approach. The film was developed to promote the work of the Meeting Centres Support Programme and is heavily focused on the views of those who attend the Centre. 

 

Publications and Dissemination

Publication: Veale, A. (2015). The Arts for Dementia in North America: Learning from Practice. Winston Churchill Memorial Trust & The Baring Foundation.

Invited conference presentation: Broome, E., Cousins, E., Gray, K., Veale, A. & Schneider. J. (April 2016). The TAnDem Doctoral Training Centre. Creative Dementia Arts Network. Oxford, UK.

Invited conference workshop: Broome, E., Cousins, E., Gray, K. & Veale, A. (April 2016). Researching arts and dementia. (Workshop). Creative Dementia Arts Network Annual Conference. Oxford, UK.

Professional Experience and membership

Amy has worked with older people for the past 10 years. Between 2007 and 2015, Amy worked for Age NI and held various roles including Policy Officer and Research Manager. During this time, she was involved in two separate projects commissioned by the Department for Health and Social Services and Public Safety, and the Health and Social Care Board in Northern Ireland. These projects involved consultation with nursing home and care home residents in relation to Minimum Standards in care, and the proposed closure of statutory care homes in Northern Ireland. It was through these projects that Amy developed a particular interest in care home environments, and ways to meaningfully engage residents about their wellbeing and the care they receive.

Event organisation

Amy was involved in the organisation of the 2016 TAnDem Research into Practice Conference. Amy was also the Age NI lead in the organisation of the 2014 At the Crossroads: Preparing for an Ageing Population Conference, organised in partnership with the ARK Ageing Programme at Queens University Belfast and Ulster University.

Training and development

Amy has undertaken training in Dementia Care Mapping for realising person-centred care (2016) at the University of Bradford and is a qualified Dementia Care Mapper.

Professional membership

Amy is a member of the British Society for Gerontology.