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Understanding Dementia: Beyond Memory Loss
New
4 students
What you'll learn
- Understand how different types of dementia affect the brain and behavior
- Recognize common symptoms and patterns across Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
- Apply practical strategies to manage daily challenges and improve communication
- Support both the person living with dementia and the caregiver in a more structured and effective way
- Differentiate between memory, language, behavioral, and visuospatial impairments
- Interpret behaviors by linking them to underlying cognitive and brain systems
- Adapt communication based on the person’s cognitive profile
- Modify the environment to reduce confusion, stress, and cognitive overload
- Respond to challenging situations such as repetition, agitation, or confusion more effectively
- Identify early signs of caregiver stress and burnout
- Apply simple self-care strategies to maintain emotional and physical well-being as a caregiver
Explore related topics
Course content
6 sections • 14 lectures • 2h 5m total length
Requirements
- No prior clinical or medical knowledge is required
- This course is suitable for caregivers, family members, and anyone supporting a person with dementia
- Professionals such as psychologists, healthcare workers, and students may also benefit
- A willingness to learn and reflect on real-life situations is helpful
Description
Dementia is often understood as memory loss. But in reality, it is much more complex.
It is a condition that affects multiple brain systems—impacting not only memory, but also language, attention, behavior, perception, and daily functioning.
This course is designed to help you move beyond surface-level understanding, and develop a clearer, more structured way of thinking about dementia.
You will learn how different cognitive systems work, how they are affected in dementia, and how these changes appear in real-life situations.
Rather than focusing only on definitions, this course emphasizes practical understanding.
You will learn how to interpret behaviors, recognize patterns, and respond more effectively in everyday situations.
The course also introduces a clear framework for understanding dementia, and then applies this framework across different types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, primary progressive aphasia, posterior cortical atrophy, Lewy body dementia, and vascular dementia.
In addition to understanding the person living with dementia, this course also addresses the experience of caregiving.
You will explore the emotional and physical demands of caregiving, and learn simple, practical strategies to maintain balance and prevent burnout.
This course is suitable for caregivers, family members, students, and healthcare professionals who want to gain a deeper, more practical understanding of dementia and how to approach it in daily life.
The goal is not only to understand dementia, but to know how to respond.
Who this course is for:
- This course is designed for caregivers, family members, and anyone supporting a person living with dementia who wants to better understand what is happening and how to respond in daily life. It is also suitable for psychology students, healthcare professionals, and individuals interested in gaining a clearer, more structured understanding of dementia and its real-life impact. If you are looking for practical guidance, real-life examples, and a deeper understanding of behavior—not just theoretical information—this course will be valuable for you.