Spotlight on: The Wellness in Ageing Team (WiAT)

Improving cognition in older adults by targeting modifiable dementia risk factors has the potential for major individual and public health benefits.

Carefully tailored intervention and implementation approaches are required for key at risk groups who have, to date, experienced disappointing outcomes in general population intervention trials. These groups include people living with common mental health challenges, such as depression, and poor outcomes contribute to brain health inequity.

Dr Eleanor Curran, from the Wellness in Ageing Team (WiAT) and Royal Melbourne Hospital, is leading a series of studies to help improve dementia risk reduction intervention and implementation tailoring for people living with depression in mid and later-life. The studies contribute to a PhD nested within the NHMRC-funded Maintain Your Brain Trial (Prof Henry Brodaty, UNSW) and supervised by Prof Nicola Lautenschlager.

The work has already developed fine-grained, mechanistic models of dementia risk reduction engagement for people living with depression (previously lacking) and identified how intervention engagement needs differ from those in the general population.

In partnership with Royal Melbourne Hospital and supported by additional funding through the University of Melbourne Dementia Early Career Researcher Fund and Royal Melbourne Hospital Emerging Leader Grant, the team are now focused on using the developed models and integrating experience-based co-design as well as behavioural science methods to improve precisely tailored intervention design. They are completing final co-design for a multi-domain dementia risk reduction intervention tailored for people living with depression and for implementation in mental health clinical settings. Future plans include adaptation for diverse clinical contexts and hybrid intervention efficacy and implementation pilot testing and full evaluation.