Courses

Associate Degree in Dementia Care - Future Students - University of Tasmania

Associate Degree in Dementia Care - Course Overview

Back to Areas of Study

Associate Degree in Dementia Care (M2D)

Duration:

2.5 Years (Part-time)

Location:

Hobart
Rozelle

Study Areas

The Associate Degree in Dementia Care is being delivered by UTAS in partnership with ACSA. The course specifically aims to target current workers in the field of aged and dementia care to improve the quality of care in this sector. Students learn to understand the brain and the process of dementia and to relate this to the rationale for providing the very best approach to care, directly linking evidence-based practice with education of the workforce.

Students will learn different ways of providing care, responding to challenging situations, and learn how to build upon confidence in such circumstances. Students will also learn about the concepts of normal ageing, diseases causing dementia, associated behaviours and techniques and strategies for caring for people with dementia.

Study areas:

Four enabling support units to build general skills including literacy, numeracy, online technology, communication and basic biology and develop confidence for tertiary study.

Four Understanding Dementia units to introduce students to both the normal ageing processes in the body and the brain and what goes wrong in dementia. It will have a biology focus enabling students to understand the mechanisms of what goes wrong, and how various therapies are applied to intervene in the dementia process.

Four Models of Healthcare units introducing students to models of care that currently exist in Australia, core principles of supportive care and palliation, and how to effectively communicate with people with dementia.

Four elective units from a possible eight are offered from a range of areas including regulation and documentation in aged care, chronic illness, innovations in management, and workplace study units.

**The Associate Degree in Dementia Care is offered for a November intake each year only, and expressions of interest must be accepted by your ACSA branch by 15 September each year in order to commence study by November (semester 5).

Special Requirements

Be currently working in the aged care and dimentia care workforce
Be within commuting distance of a UTAS campus to attend face-to-face teaching days which may be on the weekends (4-5 days per semester)
Be a native English speaker, or have an IELTS of 6.0.

Students who have completed a Certificate III or IV in Aged Care or who hold a completed university degree may be eligible to apply for credit of up to 4 units (the first 4 foundation units).

Further study options

Career opportunities

This is the first course of its kind in Australia and for the first time brings together the disciplines of neuroscience and social science, as applied to care for people with dementia.

This associate degree will be offered in partnership with Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) to ensure that the current aged and dementia care workforce will benefit directly from high quality evidence-based care research that translates into improved care for people with dementia.

Course completion of the associate degree will advance the provision of quality care for people with dementia and will have the opportunity to disseminate knowledge that will inform practice. The associate degree offers vocational training allied with evidence-based learning and the possibility to move on to higher degree programs.

In an ageing population the workforce is set to expand significantly in the short to medium term future, and graduates will have the opportunity to be involved in the changing scope of dementia care practice from the outset, both in terms of providing quality care and in directing policy of dementia care at a local, state and national level.

Further Information

Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre

Back to Areas of Study