Despite many national guidelines for diagnosis and management of dementia, persons diagnosed with dementia and their family carer partners are often dissatisfied with the diagnostic process and receive limited post-diagnostic support. Teams from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the UK and Poland co-designed and delivered, in partnership with people living with dementia, family care partners and health care professionals, online packages, toolkits and campaigns to improve the dementia diagnostic process and post-diagnostic support.

Our website www.forwardwithdementia.org (FWD) offers information in English, Dutch, French and Polish for people living with dementia, carers and health care practitioners developed based on published evidence, national dementia guidelines and, across five countries, from surveys focus groups and input from each target group; and refined after field testing. FWD uses engaging language and graphics to provide personal stories, tips, advice and local contacts for assistance. The FWD website, and in two countries an online tool-kit for curating the information, was promoted with social media, regionally-specific targetted campaigns, webinars, local events, television coverage and presentations to the public and to health care providers. The effectiveness of the internationally varied campaigns, evaluated using RE-AIM framework, demonstrated variable Reach and Engagement; Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance are still being assessed. In collaboration with the World Health Organisation, Alzheimer’s Disease International and Dementia Alliance International we have developed a playbook that facilitates FWD to be adapted and implemented internationally.