Under the impression of the ongoing COVID- 19 outbreak, the 31^st Alzheimer Europe conference “Resilience in dementia: Moving beyond the COVID-19 pandemic” took place virtually for the second time from 29 November to 1 December 2021.  

Researchers from SHARED presented preliminary results during the session “Social health as a driving force in dementia preventing and living well with dementia” organized by INTERDEM. The session focused on the concept of social health and presented findings from SHARED and related projects.

The session was led by Myrra Vernooij-Dassen, former chair of the INTERDEM network and member of the SHARED consortium. Besides moderation she gave a presentation on the theoretical foundations of the Social Health concept and presented some recent research findings on the interrelations of Social Health and cognitive functioning in dementia. Henrik Wiegelmann and Marta Lenart-Bugla presented results of their work on measures of social health in the context of cognitive decline and dementia. Their systematic review focuses on the identification of validated instruments used in literature to measure certain aspects of social health.

Interdem members Clarissa Giebel (United Kingdom) and Orii McDermott (United Kingdom) presented results on respectively COVID-19-related social support service closures and mental well-being in older adults and those affected by dementia, based on an UK longitudinal survey and on the results of the DISTINCT project focusing on the use of social health principles to improve the applicability and effectiveness of technology in dementia care.