Evaluation of best practice police resources to assist in the rapid response of missing persons with dementia

Three out of five Canadians with dementia wander, raising concern as to how it can be managed. Strategies, such as GPS, offer options for finding missing persons with dementia and may be a preferred strategy by police. As part of the Finding Your Way® Program with the Alzheimer Society on Ontario, a series of education resources were developed in 2018 to assist in the location of this population by police services. The impact of these resources has yet to be evaluated by participating police services. The objective of this project will be to evaluate the impact of the resources developed through the Finding Your Way® Program to assist in the location of missing persons with dementia among police services in Ontario. It will involve a series of surveys and interviews with participating police services The Alzheimer Society of Ontario wants to enhance the reputation of the Finding Your Way® program, and reduce the risk of people with dementia going missing. Partnering with researchers, such as the intern, to have credibility and have police partnerships will help make that happen.

Faculty Supervisor:

Lili Liu

Student:

Noelannah Neubauer

Partner:

Alzheimer Society of Ontario

Discipline:

Epidemiology / Public health and policy

Sector:

Health care and social assistance

University:

University of Waterloo