Dementia Care resources

Supporting people living with dementia - where to find support

With dementia now one of the leading cause of death in Australia the need for everyone to understand and be prepared to provide care has never been greater. For people working in aged care this is even more the case.

To help individuals and organisations get started we have listed some of the freely available training and information options. Visit palliAGED website to find more.

• Dementia Australia
  • About dementia
  • Dementia-friendly home app
  • A Better Visit app
  • Creating a dementia-friendly environment (145kb pdf)

Download/Print the Dementia Care resources Factsheet (159kb pdf)

Resources for direct care providers

• Dementia Training Australia
  • Lanyard Cards - Two cards featuring three checklists:
    • How well am I communicating?
    • Understanding the behaviour being observed.
    • Getting to know the person living with dementia.
  • Responsive Behaviours Quick Reference Cards - on-the-spot point of reference for health professionals and care staff working with people with dementia to help in the management of responsive behaviours.
  • Responsive Behaviours App - an on-the-spot point of reference for health professionals and care staff working with people with dementia. Underpinned by a person-centred approach, this app will help you look up common responsive behaviours, find approaches to help you problem solve and address responsive behaviours and help prevent them.

Resources for organisations

• ELDAC Dementia Toolkit - Provides information and guidance to support palliative care and advance care planning for people living with dementia and their families.
• Dementia Australia - How to design dementia-friendly care environments (145kb pdf).
• palliAGED Evidence - Cognitive Impairment and Dementia.
• CareSearch - Clinical evidence: Advanced dementia.

Resources to support in-house training

• Dementia Training Australia - Responsive Behaviours Toolkit - guide for conducting 15 - minute learning sessions on responsive behaviours.
• palliAGED Practice Tip sheets careworkers - What it is and what you can do, information sheets: Advanced dementia; Advanced dementia - Behavioural Changes.
• palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets Nurses - What it is and what you can do, information sheets:  Advanced dementia; Advanced dementia - Behvioural Changes.
• palliAGED Journeys in Aged care – follow Keng's journey in aged care and reflect on what you could do to help.
• The Agency for Clinical Innovation - Palliative care and dementia, Dr Elspeth Correy discusses how, why and when to consider palliative care as part of dementia care.

Online training in dementia care

Dementia specific training for careworkers -
Author = Advance Project
Audience = careworkers
Modules = 7
Time to complete = 4 hours (all modules)

Dementia specific training for Clinicians and Managers -
Author = Advance Project
Audience = Primary care clinicians and managers Modules = 9
Time to complete = 4 hours (all modules)

Supporting people living with dementia -
Author = Equip Aged Care Learning
Audience = everyone
Modules = 1
Time to complete = 10 minutes  

Victorian Aged Care Education and Training - Dementia
Author = La Trobe University 
Audience = people working in residential aged care services Modules = 5
Time to complete = 30 minutes

Page updated 06 November 2023