Aguzzoli Peres F, Haas AN, Martha AD, Chan M, Steele M, Ferretti MT, Ngcobo NN, Ilinca S, Domínguez-Vivero C, Leroi I, Sajnani N, Zimmer ER, Kornhuber A, Kalache A, Holtzhausen B, Tristão-Pereira C, Dupont C, Cohen D, de Jong D, Facal D, O'Sullivan D, Mateus E, Roso E, Estrop E, Gamba G, San Martin Elexpe G, Ulises Diaz Hernández H, Quaid H, Govia I, Barbosa J, García Del Moral J, Miller J, García García JA, Quaid K, Navarro L, García LZ, Waters L, Molete L, Godoy ME, Sigauke M, de Ataide Schulte MW, Estrop P, San Martin Elexpe Cardoso P, Perez R, Patterson R, Chakrabarti R, Wong R, Marsillas S, Lowe S, Rego TS, Farombi T, Montgomery T, In 't Veen T, Yanni V, Weidner W, Ibanez A. Walking the talk for dementia: A unique immersive, embodied, and multi-experiential initiative. Alzheimers Dement. 2024 Jan 26. doi: 10.1002/alz.13644.
Abstract
Coping with dementia requires an integrated approach encompassing personal, health, research, and community domains. Here we describe "Walking the Talk for Dementia," an immersive initiative aimed at empowering people with dementia, enhancing dementia understanding, and inspiring collaborations. This initiative involved 300 participants from 25 nationalities, including people with dementia, care partners, clinicians, policymakers, researchers, and advocates for a 4-day, 40 km walk through the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Spain. A 2-day symposium after the journey provided novel transdisciplinary and horizontal structures, deconstructing traditional hierarchies. The innovation of this initiative lies in its ability to merge a physical experience with knowledge exchange for diversifying individuals' understanding of dementia. It showcases the transformative potential of an immersive, embodied, and multi-experiential approach to address the complexities of dementia collaboratively. The initiative offers a scalable model to enhance understanding, decrease stigma, and promote more comprehensive and empathetic dementia care and research.
Keywords: dementia; diversity; experiential and immersive learning; lived experience; patient-family-oriented care; society; transdisciplinarity.
© 2024 The Authors. Alzheimer's & Dementia published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Alzheimer's Association.
