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The COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruption in community support for vulnerable older people and is thought to have exacerbated existing issues within UK adult social care. This study aims to examine the legacy of that disruption on how meeting centres for people affected by dementia have been impacted in continually evolving circumstances.

Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted at three meeting centre case study sites. Ninety-eight participants, including people living with dementia, family carers, staff, volunteers, trustees and external partners, were asked about the impact and legacy of the pandemic upon meeting centres. A thematic analysis was carried out on the data.

Ten themes were identified: ability to re-open venues; increased health decline and loss of members due to isolation; closure or halting of linking services and dementia community support; disruption to diagnosis and referrals; increase in outreach, building communities and overall reach; digital access and use of technology (boom and decline); changes to carer involvement and engagement; continued uncertainty and changes to funding, resources and governance; staff and volunteer recruitment issues; and relief at/wish for return to pre-pandemic norms.

This paper offers new insight into a still-developing situation, namely, the legacy effects of the pandemic upon third-sector community support for people affected by dementia and the health and social care services that support it. The reduction in maintenance of pandemic-era technological innovations is a key finding.

Meeting Centres (MCs) are a complex community-based psychosocial intervention to support people affected by dementia. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of identifying the essential features of MCs from a UK perspective.

The essential features were examined within a concept analysis framework, which combines both static and evolutionary methods, enabling multiple stakeholder groups to be included in the process in an iterative manner.

Eleven essential features were developed, providing a conceptual model of the UK MCs. The underpinning rationale is sufficiently flexible to enable community-based development, while at the same time providing a robust platform upon which to build the evidence base.

While some features may be common to other types of community-based support, the combination of characteristics and the underpinning ethos differentiates MCs and enables each one to meet the needs of its own community.

Community Makers (https://communitymakers.co) is an active UK wide network that evolved rapidly in response to COVID-19 and the negative impact of social isolation and distancing on people and families affected by dementia. The network is led by the Alzheimer’s Society, UK Dementia Research Institute Care Research and Technology Centre and The Association for Dementia Studies, at the University of Worcester. This study aims to investigate what works for whom and why and in what circumstances as a basis for the development of an online toolkit for people supporting people affected by dementia to connect and reconnect during the pandemic and beyond.

The development of the toolkit was informed by an iterative approach of engagement with people affected by dementia, learning from a network of community organisations and a rapid realist literature review.

Four common factors that combine to make a successful support intervention, regardless of its type, size or location were identified: relationships, purpose, technology and community. The application of the factors, adopted as principles, is illustrated by applying them to three real-world examples.

The main output was the online tool kit, which is a resource of creative ideas to inspire groups with different approaches to digital involvement and help reduce social isolation.

This report offers new insight, based on identification of four principles, into how people affected by dementia can be supported online and offline during a pandemic and beyond.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Meeting Centres (MCs) for people affected by dementia in the UK ceased to meet physically but continued to provide remote support. The aim was to understand the extent to which MCs were able to operate when physical meetings were not possible and how they achieved particularly in relation to the adaptation and coping model and practical, emotional and social adjustment.

Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with people affected by dementia, staff, volunteers, managers and trustees from MCs. Data were collected on the type and quantity of contact MCs had with people affected by dementia during lockdown. Data were coded and mapped against adaptation and coping strategies, i.e. practical understanding and empowerment, optimising emotional well-being and opportunities for social engagement.

A range of remote approaches, both technological (e.g. using online platforms) and non-technological (e.g. newsletters and post) were implemented alongside limited face-to-face contact. Regular MC activities were adapted using the different approaches. It was possible to map all the adaptation and coping model support strategies to the activities delivered in this way. MCs were able to adapt rapidly to continue to support people to adjust to change.

Moving forward, combining approaches (usual MC and remote) means person-centred support could be optimized, addressing social isolation and reaching those who cannot attend MCs.

This paper offers new insight into the extent to which community-based support for people with dementia can continue when face-to-face contact is not possible because of COVID-19.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the Adaptation-Coping Model developed by Dröes in the Netherlands to frame the process of optimal adjustment for people diagnosed with dementia. This model is not well-known in English-speaking countries, but appears to have much to offer practitioners and researchers. As part of a large EU research project (MeetingDem) the authors translated and utilised this model in piloting the Dutch Meeting Centre Support Programme in the UK. This is a local community place-based approach to post-diagnostic psychosocial support. It is aimed at people diagnosed with dementia alongside their families and has proven benefits.

The Adaptation-Coping Model underpins the support provided by the Meeting Centre Programme. The model and its translation into the UK context are described. Focus groups were undertaken with people living with dementia (n=9) and family carers (n=6) at the UK Meeting Centre pilot. Examples from these focus groups are provided in order to illustrate different aspects of the model.

The translated Adaptation-Coping (adjusting to change) Model provides a way for service users (people with dementia and families) to conceptualise their journey with dementia post-diagnosis, and potentially provides service providers and researchers with aims for treatment and support.

These are initial observations based on a UK pilot service.

Ways of conceptualising psychosocial support for people living with dementia often do not get translated between countries. This model has been successfully utilised within the Netherlands for many years. This paper highlights the opportunity to build on this in English-speaking countries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of NFTs in revolutionizing innovation management and information systems. Innovations done by firms are blatantly used by other firms to develop cheap knock-off. This leads to huge economic loses to the firm investing in research and development activities. Firms are in need of trusted, immutable and verifiable means of storing information which cannot be used by others, even if publically available without their consent. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) appear to be one such solution to this problem that has recently attracted a lot of investor interest. Using NFTs the information is tokenized and is stored in a secure manner.

Through this scoping review, the authors investigate the influence of NFTs towards the innovation management from the dual aspects of management and information systems. This scoping review is underpinned by the five-stage framework by Arksey and O’Malley. The five stages of Arksey and O’Malley’s framework were used in this analysis to classify the literature through five stages of identifying the initial research questions; locating relevant studies; study selection; charting the data; and compiling, summarizing and reporting the results.

This study suggests that NFTs on the blockchain have significant potential to revolutionize innovation management and information systems. Theoretical frameworks used in investigating the role of digital tokens in blockchain management are mainly based on contracts, diversity theory, portfolio theory and faking likelihood theory. The study reveals gaps in the literature, particularly in the under-researched areas of behavioural psychology and social psychology theories. The appropriate regulation and regulation authority for different types of digital tokens are required. The study also presents archetypes that represent patterns in the current landscape of blockchain tokens, which have significant potential for future research and practical applications.

This study is unique in its approach to assessing the future of NFTs in the field of innovation and information management. While many existing reviews have focused on describing the progress and development of NFTs in the past, this study takes a forward-looking perspective and projects the future potential of NFTs. This innovative approach allows for a deeper understanding of the potential impact of NFTs in various fields such as entrepreneurship, innovation management and tokenomics. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature on NFTs by providing insights and recommendations for future research and practical applications.

The purpose of this paper is to advance clarity and precision around effective action in networks, understood as collaboration that: first, deepens the learning and engagement of students and adults; second, enhances the professional capital of teachers and leaders; and third, becomes a positive force of whole system improvement. It distills eight essential features of effective networks by fleshing out key lessons from existing research and from emerging education network developments in the English-speaking world and Latin America. It then discusses three shifts required for a new partnership between networks and central leadership to turn networks into forces of educational system renewal.

Two sources of evidence were identified and reviewed: first, literature reviews and studies aimed at identifying characteristics of effective networks in education; and second, network case studies and R & D initiatives that used networks as their improvement strategy and had demonstrated positive impact on student outcomes or on one or more professional capital variables often associated with improved student outcomes. To distill the eight essential features of effective networks and three required shifts in the relationship between networks and central leadership, the authors engaged in an iterative process of thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998) deliberately searching for key characteristics and processes describing effective collaboration. The list was revised for completeness and parsimony.

The eight essential features of effective networks identified are: first, focussing on ambitious student learning outcomes linked to effective pedagogy; second, developing strong relationships of trust and internal accountability; third, continuously improving practice and systems through cycles of collaborative inquiry; fourth, using deliberate leadership and skilled facilitation within flat power structures; fifth, frequently interacting and learning inwards; sixth, connecting outwards to learn from others; seventh, forming new partnership among students, teachers, families, and communities; and eighth, securing adequate resources to sustain the work. The three required shifts in the relationship between networks and central leadership are: first, from supply driven to demand driven; second, from compliance oriented to learning oriented; and third, from bureaucracy to movement.

The key limitation derives from the scarce available evidence to date causally – or even co-relationally – connecting network activities with improved student learning. This paper summarizes what is known to date about effective collaboration in networks and advance a theory of action that causally links network activities with improved student outcomes and enhanced professional capital. This theory of action, summarized in eight essential features, simultaneously offers key hypotheses for social network theory in education and actionable guidelines to develop effective networks.

The eight essential features of effective networks and the three required shifts in the relationship between networks and central leadership presented here were intentionally framed as action oriented. They offer a clear and actionable set of guidelines to develop effective networks.

The power of networks as vehicles to dramatically improve schools and entire educational systems is yet to be realized. This paper offers guidelines to enhance the effectiveness of networks, and thus contributes to the realization of the yet unfulfilled promise of networks.

This work adds originality and value in three ways: first, it draws from both existing studies on effective networks and successful and promising education networks; second, its findings apply to multiple configurations of networks, across multiple contexts – existing publications place their focus on specific network configurations or a specific network case or initiative; third, it looks at effective collaboration in networks from the dual perspective of local problem solving and whole system improvement.