Health & Care Dementia Care

Understanding Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease

A practical guide to symptoms, diagnosis, care, communication, and planning

Quick Course Facts

Self-paced, Online, Lessons

Videos and/or Narrated Presentations

6.1

Approximate Hours of Course Media

About the Understanding Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease Course

Understanding Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease is a Health & Care course for anyone who wants clear, practical knowledge about dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and the support needs that can arise over time. This course helps students recognize concerning changes, understand diagnosis and treatment options, and build confidence in communication, care, and planning.

Build Practical Skills For Understanding Dementia And Alzheimer's Disease

Learn the foundations of dementia, normal ageing, and Alzheimer's disease in a clear Health & Care context
Recognize early warning signs, understand the diagnostic journey, and know when to seek help
Develop practical care skills for communication, daily routines, safety, distress, and behaviour changes
Prepare for legal, financial, family, advanced care, and end-of-life planning with greater confidence

A practical guide to symptoms, diagnosis, care, communication, and planning for Understanding Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.

This course explains what dementia means, how it differs from normal ageing, and where Alzheimer's disease fits among common types of dementia. Students explore how memory, thinking, mood, and behaviour may be affected, while learning how symptoms can vary from person to person.

Through a structured Health & Care approach, the course covers early warning signs, assessment, risk factors, prevention evidence, stages of Alzheimer's disease, and the limits of current treatment options. It also introduces non-drug approaches that can support daily life, independence, and wellbeing.

Students will gain practical skills for communicating as dementia progresses, responding to confusion or distress, supporting personal care, improving routines, and managing safety concerns such as home risks, driving, wandering, and changing levels of independence.

The course also addresses the wider realities of dementia care, including family carer support, burnout prevention, legal and financial planning, advance care decisions, later-stage care, dignity, and end-of-life choices. By the end, students will be better prepared to understand dementia, support people with compassion, communicate more effectively, and make thoughtful care and planning decisions.

Course Lessons

Full lesson breakdown

Lessons are organized by topic area and each includes descriptive copy for search visibility and student clarity.

Foundations

3 lessons

Lesson 1: What Dementia Means

18 min Preview

Dementia is not one specific disease. It is a broad term for a decline in memory, thinking, communication, judgment, or other mental abilities that is serious enough to interfere with daily life. This…

Lesson 2: Normal Ageing Versus Concerning Changes

19 min

This lesson helps learners separate normal age-related changes from cognitive, behavioral, and functional changes that deserve medical attention. It emphasizes that occasional forgetfulness can be par…

Lesson 3: Alzheimer's Disease in Context

18 min

This lesson places Alzheimer’s disease within the broader topic of dementia. Learners distinguish dementia as a syndrome from Alzheimer’s as a specific disease process, understand why Alzheimer’s is c…

Brain and Symptoms

2 lessons

Lesson 4: How Memory, Thinking, and Behaviour Are Affected

21 min

This lesson explains how dementia changes memory, thinking, communication, perception, mood, and behaviour. It focuses on what these changes can look like in daily life and why they happen, without ju…

Lesson 5: Common Types of Dementia

20 min

This lesson explains the most common dementia types by connecting changes in the brain with the symptoms families and care teams may notice day to day. Learners will compare Alzheimer’s disease, vascu…

Recognition and Assessment

2 lessons

Lesson 6: Early Warning Signs and When to Seek Help

18 min

This lesson helps learners distinguish common age-related forgetfulness from warning signs that may point to dementia or Alzheimer's disease. It focuses on changes in memory, reasoning, language, judg…

Lesson 7: The Diagnostic Journey

22 min

This lesson explains what usually happens between the first concern about memory or thinking changes and a formal dementia diagnosis. It focuses on the practical steps of assessment: preparing for a m…

Risk and Brain Health

1 lesson

Lesson 8: Understanding Risk Factors and Prevention Evidence

20 min

This lesson explains what dementia risk factors can and cannot tell us. Learners distinguish non-modifiable risks, such as age and inherited genetics, from modifiable risks where prevention efforts ma…

Progression

1 lesson

Lesson 9: Stages of Alzheimer's Disease

21 min

This lesson explains how Alzheimer's disease commonly progresses from preclinical or very mild changes through mild, moderate, and severe stages. Students learn that stages are practical guideposts, n…

Treatment and Support

2 lessons

Lesson 10: Treatment Options and Their Limits

22 min

This lesson explains what current dementia treatments can and cannot do. It distinguishes symptom-focused medicines, disease-modifying Alzheimer’s treatments for selected early-stage patients, non-dru…

Lesson 11: Non-Drug Approaches That Support Daily Life

20 min

Non-drug approaches are often the first and most practical layer of dementia support. They do not cure dementia or replace medical care, but they can reduce distress, preserve abilities, improve safet…

Practical Care Skills

2 lessons

Lesson 12: Communication as Dementia Progresses

19 min

This lesson teaches practical communication skills for the middle and later stages of dementia, when word-finding, comprehension, attention, and emotional regulation often become harder. The focus is …

Lesson 13: Responding to Distress, Confusion, and Behaviour Changes

23 min

Distress, confusion, agitation, repeated questions, resistance to care, wandering, accusations, and sudden mood changes are common in dementia, but they are not random or “bad behaviour.” They are oft…

Daily Living

1 lesson

Lesson 14: Personal Care, Nutrition, Sleep, and Routine

21 min

This lesson focuses on the daily care tasks that most affect comfort, dignity, health, and household stability for a person living with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. It covers personal hygiene, dre…

Safety and Independence

1 lesson

Lesson 15: Home Safety, Driving, Wandering, and Risk

22 min

This lesson focuses on reducing everyday risks while preserving as much independence and dignity as possible for a person living with dementia. It covers practical home safety adjustments, driving dec…

Planning Ahead

1 lesson

Lesson 16: Legal, Financial, and Advance Care Planning

21 min

This lesson explains how families can plan ahead for the legal, financial, and medical decisions that often become harder as dementia progresses. It focuses on practical steps: documenting wishes, cho…

Family and Carer Support

1 lesson

Lesson 17: Supporting Family Carers and Preventing Burnout

19 min

This lesson focuses on the family carer: the person often coordinating daily routines, safety, appointments, finances, emotions, and practical care while also trying to maintain their own life. Learne…

Advanced Care

1 lesson

Lesson 18: Later-Stage Care, Dignity, and End-of-Life Decisions

23 min

In later-stage dementia, care often shifts from restoring independence to protecting comfort, dignity, safety, and connection. This lesson explains what families commonly face as eating, mobility, com…

About Your Instructor

Professor Christina Ross

Professor Christina Ross guides this AI-built Virversity course with a clear, practical teaching style.