Dual-action arts and wellbeing program transforms dementia care

University of South Australia

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Art program participant, Tricia.

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Credit: UniSA

A new arts and wellbeing program co-developed by the University of South Australia, Flinders University and the University of Adelaide shows that supporting the social needs of people living with dementia and their carers can help families rediscover connection, confidence and a sense of community.

 

Designed in collaboration with those affected by dementia and funded by the Global Arts and Health Alliance, the six-week program concurrently delivers an arts session for people with dementia alongside a wellbeing session for their carers.

 

UniSA researcher Dr Carolyn Murray says the dual structure of the program shows why dementia care must support both the person diagnosed and the people who care for them.

 

“One of the most challenging parts of dementia is connecting with others – not just for the person diagnosed, but also for the family members who care for them,” Dr Murray says.

“People with dementia and their family carers are at risk of becoming socially isolated and withdrawn from community activities, often because they’re unsure whether they’ll be able to participate.

 

“They want connection with people who understand their experience and they want opportunities to do meaningful things that suit their abilities, but they’re cautious about adding stress, even when both would benefit from doing something different.

 

“What makes this program different is that it’s been co-designed with families living with dementia and an artist. This co-design alongside having co-researchers from occupational therapy, social work and psychology brought diverse perspectives and experiences into the co-design process.

 

“The activities are well matched to participants from the outset, and with the art and wellbeing sessions running side by side, people with dementia feel safe knowing their carer is close, while carers can be confident that the person they care for is also having an enriching experience.

 

“We found that it was this sense of closeness that allowed both groups to relax, participate fully, and rediscover a bit of confidence and enjoyment.”

 

Dementia is a life limiting brain condition that affects memory, mood, behaviour and thinking. It’s more commonly associated with older people, but it is not a normal part of ageing. Dementia is now the leading cause of death in Australia.

 

Globally, 57 million people have dementia with nearly 10 million new cases diagnosed each year. Many of these people are supported by unpaid carers: about 700,000 in the UK; nearly 12 million in the US; and more than 140,000 in Australia.

 

Feedback from the UniSA program has been extremely positive, with many family carers expressing a strong desire for similar programs so they can continue rebuilding confidence in their abilities and social connection.

 

Dr Murray says that as dementia numbers continue to rise, programs like this will be vital. These programs need to be co-designed with people with dementia, their carers and facilitators to ensure their feasibility and acceptability.

 

“Community-based programs are extremely valuable for families living with dementia, as they offer safe enriching activities that maintain wellbeing, participation and self-esteem. They also give families a much-needed, meaningful break from one another,” Dr Murray says.

 

“Dementia support is not just about addressing symptoms – it’s about nurturing relationships and meaning.

 

“Programs like these help families stay connected, supported and able to live well at home for longer.”

 

The published paper can be accessed here: Murray CM, de la Perrelle L, Mart K, Baranoff, J., Richards, G., Rosa Hernandez, G., Berndt, A. Supporting the Well-Being of People Living With Dementia and Their Family Carers Through Concurrent Arts and Well-Being Community Programs: Qualitative Perspectives of Participants and Facilitators. Dementia. 2025;0(0). doi:10.1177/14713012251383967

 

The University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide are joining forces to become Australia’s new major university – Adelaide University. Building on the strengths, legacies and resources of two leading universities, Adelaide University will deliver globally relevant research at scale, innovative, industry-informed teaching and an outstanding student experience. Adelaide University will open its doors in January 2026. Find out more on the Adelaide University website.

 

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Watercolour artwork crated by one of teh program participants.

Credit

UniSA

DOI

10.1177/14713012251383967 

Method of Research

Case study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Supporting the Well-Being of People Living With Dementia and Their Family Carers Through Concurrent Arts and Well-Being Community Programs: Qualitative Perspectives of Participants and Facilitators

COI Statement

The authors declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Kerry Mart has interest in the outcomes of the program due to managing her own art business which provides programs to people living with dementia. This was managed through Kerry not being involved in the data collection and having team driven data analysis. Geoff Richards is the convenor of the Mitchell Park Pathways Café program and assisted with recruitment.

 

Blinking less could signal the brain is working harder to listen, Concordia study shows

The researchers say blink rates can be used as a practical, low-burden metric to measure cognitive function in the lab and in the real world

Concordia University

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Pénélope Coupal, centre, with Charlotte Bigras and Mickael Deroche: “We don’t just blink randomly. In fact, we blink systematically less when salient information is presented.”

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Credit: Concordia University

Blinking is a human reflex most often performed without thinking, like breathing. Although research on blinking is usually related to vision, a new Concordia study examines how blinking is connected to cognitive function such as filtering out background noise to focus on what someone is trying to say to us in a crowded room.

Writing in the journal Trends in Hearing, the researchers describe two experiments designed to measure how eye blinking changes in response to stimuli under different conditions.

They found that people naturally blink less when they are working harder to understand speech in noisy environments, suggesting that the act of blinking reflects the mental effort behind everyday listening. The research further showed that blink patterns remained stable across different lighting conditions — meaning people blinked just as much whether lighting was bright, dim or dark.

“We wanted to know if blinking was impacted by environmental factors and how it related to executive function,” says lead author Pénélope Coupal, an Honours student at the Laboratory for Hearing and Cognition. “For instance, is there a strategic timing of a person’s blinks so they would not miss out on what is being said?”

They found that this was indeed the case.

“We don’t just blink randomly,” says Coupal. “In fact, we blink systematically less when salient information is presented.”

Linking ocular and auditory activity

In the study involving almost 50 adults, participants sat in a soundproof room, fixated on a cross on a screen. They listened to short sentences played through headphones while background noise levels — the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) — varied from quiet to loud.

Using eye-tracking glasses, the researchers recorded every blink and its exact timing as participants listened to the sentences. Each trial was then divided into three time windows: before, during and after each sentence.

They found blink rates consistently dropped while participants listened to a sentence compared to the periods immediately before and after. This blink suppression was especially pronounced in the noisiest conditions, when speech was hardest to understand.

In a follow-up experiment, the researchers tested blinking rates at different SNRs in rooms with dark, medium and bright lighting. The same pattern emerged. This indicated that cognitive demands drive the effect, rather than how much light reaches the eye.

While the researchers noted that blink rates varied between individuals — some participant blinked as little as 10 times per minute, while others may have blinked 70 times per minute — the general trend was visible and significant.

Most previous studies linking ocular function to cognitive effort focused on measuring pupil dilation (pupillometry) and treated blinks as nuisances to be removed from the data. This study reanalyzed existing pupillometry data to focus specifically on blink timing and frequency. The researchers say their findings confirm blink rates can be used as a practical, low-burden metric to measure cognitive function in both laboratory and real-world settings.

“Our study suggests that blinking is associated with losing information, both visual and auditory,” says co-author Mickael Deroche, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology.

“That is presumably why we suppress blinking when important information is coming. But to be fully convincing, we need to map out the precise timing and pattern of how visual/auditory information is lost during a blink. This is the logical next step, and a study is being led by postdoctoral fellow Charlotte Bigras. But these findings are far from trivial.”

Yue Zhang contributed to this research.

Read the cited paper: “Reduced Eye Blinking During Sentence Listening Reflects Increased Cognitive Load in Challenging Auditory Conditions”

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Journal

Trends in Hearing

DOI

10.1177/23312165251371118 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Reduced Eye Blinking During Sentence Listening Reflects Increased Cognitive Load in Challenging Auditory Conditions

 

Receptors in mammary glands make livestock and humans inviting hosts for avian flu

Iowa State University

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Microscope-captured images of a mammary gland of a pig show the presence of influenza receptors. In the image on the left, receptors for avian influenza A are colored orange. In the image on the right, receptors for the type of influenza A that typically infects mammals are purple.

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Credit: Tyler Harm/Iowa State University.

AMES, Iowa – An ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza has affected more than 184 million domestic poultry since 2022 and, since making the leap to dairy cattle in spring 2024, more than 1,000 milking cow herds.

A new study led by Iowa State University researchers shows that the mammary glands of several other production animals – including pigs, sheep, goats, beef cattle and alpacas – are biologically suitable to harbor avian influenza, due to high levels of sialic acids.

“The main thing we wanted to understand in this study is whether there is potential for transmission among these other domestic mammals and humans, and it looks like there is,” said Rahul Nelli, the study’s lead author and a research assistant professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine.

Sialic acid, a sugar molecule found on the surface of many types of animal cells, provides an influenza virus the microscopic docking station it needs to infect a host cell, an entry point for attaching and invading. A study by many of the same researchers last year found that dairy cattle udders have high levels of sialic acid, which helped explain why the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak was able to spread rapidly among dairy herds.

In the study published Nov. 27 in the Journal of Dairy Science, a research team that includes scientists from the ISU College of Veterinary Medicine and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Disease Center in Ames also found the same receptors in the mammary glands of the humans.

Only a few sporadic cases of H5N1 infection have been reported in the animals examined in the new study, but those species aren’t being tested on a widespread basis, said Dr. Todd Bell, professor of veterinary pathology and a study co-author.

“If we don’t look, we don’t know,” Bell said.

In dairy herds, H5N1 infections are causing sick cows to produce milk contaminated with the virus, prompting nationwide surveillance testing of raw cow milk samples by the USDA. Pasteurization kills influenza viruses, so store-bought milk is safe. But concerns about raw milk should extend to other mammalian livestock, Nelli said.

“Some people do consume the raw milk of these other animals,” he said.

The presence of the virus in milk from infected cows has likely played a role in the H5N1 spreading and makes transmission to humans a bigger risk, Nelli said.

“If a virus in livestock is being spread by respiratory infections, few humans will be in close enough contact to catch it. But milk is an entirely different situation because it’s transported into communities,” he said. 

All of the mammary gland tissues examined in the new study had sialic acid receptors preferred by both avian influenza and the seasonal influenza that circulates more readily among humans. The possibility of both types of viruses comingling and transmitting between different species heightens concerns about more dangerous adaptations emerging, Bell said. H5N1 has in the past had a fatality rate in humans of around 50%, though the 71 confirmed human infections during the current outbreak have led to just two deaths.

“We need to try to stay ahead of this so it doesn’t have a chance to continue to replicate and potentially evolve into something even more troublesome,” he said.

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Journal

Journal of Dairy Science

DOI

10.3168/jds.2025-26950 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Exploring influenza A virus receptor distribution in the lactating mammary gland of domesticated livestock and in human breast tissue

NEO-LIBERAL MANAGEMENT STUDIES

University of Phoenix College of Doctoral Studies releases white paper on reclaiming control to build workforce resilience

New analysis by Karen Johnson, Ed.D., connects career autonomy to reduced burnout and stronger resilience—and offers practical steps for employers and workers

University of Phoenix

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University of Phoenix College of Doctoral Studies announced the publication of “Reclaiming Control: Autonomy as the Key to Workforce Resilience and Career Optimism,” a new white paper by Karen Johnson, Ed.D. The report argues that restoring a sense of autonomy is essential to reducing record-high burnout and strengthening organizational resilience.  

Drawing on findings from several years of the University’s Career Optimism Index® study, Johnson highlights an “autonomy crisis” in the U.S. workforce: 21% of workers say their control over their professional future has declined, while 51% report burnout—the highest level since tracking began. The paper frames autonomy within Conservation of Resources theory and outlines how access to skill-building and effective use of AI can restore agency, optimism, and adaptability.

“Autonomy is the missing link between coping and truly thriving at work,” said Johnson. “When organizations invest in skill-building and equip people to use AI responsibly, employees gain the control and clarity they need to reduce burnout and build resilience.”

Among the findings: workers who feel in control of their careers are significantly less likely to experience burnout (45% vs. 70%), report higher motivation and adaptability, and benefit when employers prioritize internal mobility, targeted upskilling, and responsible AI training. The paper details recommendations for leaders and employees to embed autonomy in role design, development pathways, and day-to-day work.

Johnson is a University Research Methodologist with the College of Doctoral Studies and a research methodology group leader in the Center for Educational and Instructional Technology Research (CEITR). She has served as University of Phoenix faculty since 2005 and is an active contributor to researcher development and publication initiatives.

The full white paper is available at the University of Phoenix Career Institute® webpage or the College of Doctoral Studies’ Research Hub.

About University of Phoenix 

University of Phoenix innovates to help working adults enhance their careers and develop skills in a rapidly changing world. Flexible schedules, relevant courses, interactive learning, skills-mapped curriculum for our bachelor’s and master’s degree programs and a Career Services for Life® commitment help students more effectively pursue career and personal aspirations while balancing their busy lives. For more information, visit phoenix.edu.

About the College of Doctoral Studies

University of Phoenix’s College of Doctoral Studies focuses on today’s challenging business and organizational needs, from addressing critical social issues to developing solutions to accelerate community building and industry growth. The College’s research program is built around the Scholar, Practitioner, Leader Model which puts students in the center of the Doctoral Education Ecosystem® with experts, resources and tools to help prepare them to be a leader in their organization, industry and community. Through this program, students and researchers work with organizations to conduct research that can be applied in the workplace in real time.

 

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Article Publication Date

2-Dec-2025