WITTEN-HERDECKE (NNA) - The University of Witten/Herdecke (UWH) has developed a new interdisciplinary Master course in the subject of dementia. All three departments of the faculty of health at the UWH – human medicine, dentistry and nursing - are involved in the new degree, both in research and teaching. 

More and more jobs and areas of every-day life are confronted daily by dementia and the people affected by this illness. “Dementia poses a substantial socio-political, economical, humanitarian and civil society problem,” a UWH press release explained.    

Dementia was not a topic that simply stopped at departmental boundaries, something that up to now had been given far too little consideration in German higher education.

The multi-professional dementia Master course (M.A.) involves extra-occupational part time study, which allows students to develop the skills in their chosen job and field of activity to care for people with dementia. It is aimed at people who are interested in a course that builds on their previous academic qualification and want to expand and deepen their knowledge in the field of caring for those suffering from dementia.

The special feature of this course is that it is not only aimed at professionals in the classic medical and nursing areas but also addresses social workers, teachers, lawyers or architects whose respective professional contexts deal with dementia sufferers.

“Against a backdrop of demographic change, it is safe to assume that the care of people with dementia will continue to be subject to great change”, the UWH said.

“We believe that the field of dementia will clearly continue to gain in relevance with regard to the health-related professions,” Professor Christel Bienstein from the department of nursing at the UWH explained.

“This will be connected with the development of new areas of work in the field of healthcare. Therefore experts are urgently needed. We would like to provide the education for them.”

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Item: 111226-01EN Date: 26 December 2011

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