Jessica Amos

RESEARCHER PROFILE

Jessica Amos

Current Appointment

Research Assistant

j.amos@neura.edu.au

Dementia Alzheimer’s disease

Researcher Bio

Jess completed a 4 year Applied Psychology degree at the University of Kent (UK) in 2016. She has been working for the UK National Health Service for the past 2 years working directly with individuals and families affected by dementia. Her roles included assisting with the assessment and providing post-diagnostic support to people with dementia living in the community. She also delivered a CBT based talking therapy to family carers aimed to support them to manage the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and stress sometimes associated with caring. She has supported a nationally known service user group, comprised of people with younger onset and rare dementia in their work to challenge the stigma and promote living well.

Projects Jessica Amos is currently involved with

CURRENT PROJECTS

MyCOACH: Connected Advice for Cognitive Health

PROFESSOR KAARIN ANSTEY, DR RANMALEE ERAMUDUGOLLA, JESSICA AMOS, DINAZ PAREKH, DR LIDAN ZHENG, MD HAMIDUL HUQUE

Researchers at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and University of New South Wales (UNSW) are inviting people who have noticed changes in their memory or thinking, or are diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), to participate in a voluntary research trial investigating dementia risk reduction.

What is the MyCOACH Trial about?

This research aims to test the effectiveness of an e-learning and behaviour change course designed to support healthy brain ageing and reduce risk of dementia. The course is tailored for people experiencing changes or concerns in thinking, memory or cognition. The trial runs for 12 weeks, with a follow up 1 year afterwards.

What is involved in this research trial?

Interested volunteers will be asked to complete some eligibility checks to confirm this study is a good match. If you decide to take part you would be placed into one of two groups. To ensure the research is fair and unbiased, the group is chosen randomly – like pulling names from a hat.

MyCOACH e-learning group: Participants take part in the 12 week online MyCOACH program. This includes e- learning, consultations with a dietician and/or exercise physiologist, and subscription to a brain training app.
Control group: Participants will receive information about cognitive health and risk factors for dementia. This group is important to be able to measure the effectiveness of the research. At the end of the study, access to the full MyCOACH e-learning course will be provided.
All participants take part in a few telephone interviews throughout the study with questions about your health. This includes a follow-up at the end of the 12 week period, and 1 year later.

You may be eligible to participate in the MyCOACH Trial if you:

Have concerns about changes in your memory or thinking OR diagnosed with ‘Mild Cognitive Impairment’
Are 65 years of age or older

Expressions of interest

If you are interested, or know someone who might be, please register below or contact us directly.

Research Team Contact

Dinaz Parekh

Email: mycoach@neura.edu.au

Phone: (02) 9399 1815

MyCOACH: Connected Advice for Cognitive Health

Self-management and Health Promotion in early-stage dementia with E-learning for carers (SHAPE)

LINDA PICKETT, PROFESSOR KAARIN ANSTEY, JESSICA AMOS, JANA KOCH

Receiving a diagnosis of dementia can lead to an overwhelming mix of emotions. It is very important that individuals and families have access to support and advice at this time, to help people regain control, plan for the future and carry on living a life that is meaningful to them.

The ‘SHAPE’ research study is a multi-site trial, working in collaboration with Norway and the UK. This study aims to test a new online training and support group for people in the early stages of dementia and e-leaning programme for care partners.

What does the study involve?

Participants of this study will be randomised into 1 of 2 groups:

Intervention group: People with dementia will be invited to a training and support group, comprising of 10 weekly online sessions, each lasting up to 2 hours. Participants will be supported to develop skills in areas including decision-making, symptom management, healthy habits adapting and coping. Care partners will receive an e-learning program following similar themes with some additional support.

Control group: Participants will not receive the group training from our team but will have access to the online training after the study is complete.

What are the benefits of this study?

We hope the online group sessions will help to put people with dementia at the centre of their care, improve wellbeing, maintain independence and encourage families to discuss and plan for the future together. In the long-term, we hope this research will help inform the type and standard of care which individuals and families receive following a diagnosis of dementia.

Interested in volunteering?

This study may be suited to you if:

You have a formal diagnosis of dementia
You are 65 and older
You are comfortable communicating, reading and writing in English
You have vision and hearing which allow you to engage comfortably in a group setting
You have a care partner (family member or friend) who is willing to dedicate a small amount of time to the study

What would happen if you take part in the study?

The study will run over 9 months and you (and your care partner) will:

Need to participate in three telephone assessment interviews, where you will be required to complete a number of questionnaires relating to health and wellbeing.
Be randomly allocated to either the (a) intervention or (b) control group of the research study.

a.) The intervention group: This group will have 10 weekly online sessions with each session lasting up to 2 hours. Participants will learn about key skills in areas including: symptom management and healthy habits. Your care partner will receive an e-learning program following similar themes with some additional support.

b.) The control group: Like with a lot of research studies, some participants will be randomised to the control group, which means they will not receive the intervention from our research team. However, after study completion, both participants and families can receive the e-learning course comprising of the educational material used in the group.