MCI@work

An aging workforce, delayed retirement, and earlier detection equates to an increasing number of people diagnosed with dementia long before they wish to retire. The MCI@work project will create a computer-based tool that provides customised employment planning support for people diagnosed with dementia who want to remain at work.

This multidisciplinary project (occupational therapy, psychology, elder law and labourlaw, social and political science, and engineering) will engage researchers from Sweden, Finland, and Canada to provide new insights into what happens when people develop mild cognitive impairment or early stage dementia while still working, how this is influenced by legislation, and how it is experienced and potentially managed by those concerned.

This project will focus on:

1. The role of technology, the match between persons and technologies, testing new/adapted solutions to support continued work and/or transition from work, and the learning approaches and problem-solving strategies each person develops for adapting and managing working with cognitive impairment;
2. How laws, regulations and policies in different countries and organizations can support and/or hinder continued work and/or transition from work, how these are practiced by a variety of actors, and how they can be understood better by people with dementia/MCI and their employers;
3. The creation of a new digital tool to support understanding, communication, and planning between people with MCI and their employers.

This research will result in a profound new conceptual understanding to produce new tools and technologies that enable people with MCI/dementia to take a lead role in managing and choosing their work life.

To learn more, visit the project's website at: www.mciatwork.org

This project is supported by a JPI "More Years Better Lives" grant.