iSupport for People with Dementia

iSupport is an online training programme to support caregivers of people living with dementia.

Do you care for a family member with memory problems or dementia? That can be difficult, stressful, and exhausting.

iSupport helps to provide good care and to take care of yourself. 

iSupport helps you, a caregiver of someone with dementia, to provide good care and to take care of yourself. iSupport consists of 23 lessons, distributed over 5 themes capturing different aspects of caregiving. Depending on your needs and interests, you can choose the lessons that suit you and create your own personalized course.

iSupport helps you...

...to understand the impact of dementia

Dementia is a brain condition that has an impact on your family member, but also on you and your relationship with your family member. Forgetting things, difficulties with thinking, not being able to do shopping or bathe oneself, or behavior changes such as aggression, depression or seeing things that other people do not see, can make it hard to cope with the condition. iSupport helps you to understand what dementia is and its impact. It helps you to adapt to a changing relationship, improve the way you communicate, and provides you the skills to help your family member with making decisions.

...how to deal with challenging behaviour

Memory problems and behaviour changes such as aggression, depression or seeing things that other people do not see can make it hard to cope with the condition. iSupport provides tips, advice and training on how to deal with behavioural changes. There are many lessons to choose from under the Challenging Behavior module and you can choose the lessons yourself based on what you decide you need to learn. You can choose as many lessons as you wish, and take these lessons in the order that you wish. You can adapt your selection during the iSupport training and return at a later date to view lessons which may become more important in the future.

...how to provide good care

The person may require more support with daily activities like bathing and eating as dementia progresses. iSupport provides tips, advice and training on how to provide good care. This will keep your family member as independent as possible. It helps to let your family member or friend feel safe, like (s)he or she has a sense of purpose and is respected. It helps to enable him or her to do the things (s)he values.

...how to take care of yourself

Caring can be challenging, stressful, and exhausting. iSupport provides tips, advice and training on how to take care of yourself. It helps you to master difficulties, feel empowered and improve your own well-being while caring for your family member. You will learn how to relax, do pleasant activities and think differently. If you want help to choose lessons that might help you, iSupport can provide advice, based on your own experiences as a caregiver.  You can fill in an optional questionnaire at the beginning of the lesson and iSupport will arrange the lessons for you. 

To find out more, please visit iSupport website at https://www.isupportfordementia.org/en