Evaluation in Dementia Care

  Evaluation in Dementia Care
  Edited by Anthea Innes and Louise McCabe,
  Jessica Kingsley Publishers
  ISBN: 1843104296,
  £19.99

  STAR RATING: 5/5

I found this collection of papers really useful, writes Les Bright. This is because the editors have thought carefully about a potential readership of people busily engaged in organising and delivering services, with only limited time to read and add to the knowledge gained from their practice.

With the words “target”, “milestone” and “indicator” now in such common usage as management tools, or heavily laden with political meaning detached from the experiences of users and practitioners, it was refreshing to read contributions focused on developing good practice.

The book is logically structured and has an impressive international flavour with contributors from Europe, the US and Scandinavia. The balance between theoretical chapters – for example addressing the policy context – and those focusing on practicalities of looking after people in long-stay care settings, is good.

The discussion of user involvement is simple, insightful and grounded in the author’s experience of evaluating services over the past 10 years.

I have no doubt that I will dip in and out of this book for years.

Les Bright is an independent consultant