This page features a selection of external resources on innovative, dementia-friendly initiatives designed to enhance quality of life and promote dignity for individuals living with dementia. From small-scale, homelike models of care to larger community concepts like dementia villages, these approaches emphasize safety, autonomy, and social connection. Whether you’re a caregiver, advocate, policymaker, or provider, these resources offer insights into how thoughtful design and person-centered practices can support more compassionate, inclusive environments.

Resources

DFA Community Toolkit. Dementia Friendly America. Available at https://dfamerica.org/community-toolkit/.

  • The DFA Community Toolkit is a step-by-step, research-informed guide that helps communities become more dementia friendly by offering adaptable strategies and standardized evaluation tools. Organized into four phases – Convene, Engage, Analyze, and Act – it supports community collaboration, goal-setting, and action planning to improve dementia awareness and support.

Evaluation of Dementia-Friendly Initiatives, Small-Scale Homelike Residential Care, and Dementia Village Models: A Scoping Review. (2023). Krier, D., de Boer, B., Hiligsmann, M., Wittwer, J., & Amieva, H. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 24(8), 1020–1027.e1. Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2023.03.024.

  • This scoping review examines research on initiatives to improve care for individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease and related disorders, focusing on dementia-friendly initiatives (DFIs), small-scale homelike (SSHL) facilities, and dementia villages. While some promising results were found regarding quality of life in SSHL facilities, the lack of quantitative data on the efficacy of these innovative care models is highlighted.

The DemSCAPE Project. DemSCAPE. Available at https://www.dementiainclusiveneighbourhood.com/.

  • The DemSCAPE website offers seven learning modules on designing age-friendly and dementia-inclusive neighborhoods, based on the Dementia-inclusive Planning and Design Guidelines developed by the DemSCAPE project and Happy Cities. It provides evidence-based strategies to help planners and communities create environments that support the wellbeing, mobility, and inclusion of older adults and people living with dementia.