Invited Speaker: Viviana Wuthrich

Whilst there is no current cure for dementia, evidence indicates that common lifestyle and psychological factors have been associated with increased risk for developing dementia. Further there is emerging evidence that if these risk factors are identified and treated, it may reduce the risk for both the development of dementia, as well as slowing cognitive decline in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. With the ageing of the Australian population, strategies to maintain healthy ageing are a priority. Despite this, there is limited understanding of how to identify and treat these common risks at a population level. Psychologists have specific expertise that can be used to screen and identify risk early and treat the individual risk factors using behavioural strategies. This talk will provide an overview of the risk factors that have been identified as well as the evidence related to how these risk factors can be treated. It will also outline a novel routine health check, the Ageing Well screening tool, that has been codesigned with patients and general practitioners to identify and treat common risk factors in older adults in primary care settings. This screening utilising existing medical data from GP software, integrated with data related to additional risk factors, offers a potential model for large scale screening and intervention through primary care. The tool is being evaluated for changes in cognitive functioning over time. Practical strategies that Clinical Neuropsychologists can use to provide early intervention will also be outlined.

 

Presenter: Professor Viviana Wuthrich is a clinical psychologist and Director of the Lifespan Health and Wellbeing Research Centre at Macquarie University. and holds a current NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellowship II. She has over 120 publications and received over $23 million in research funds. Her research is focused on understanding and treating anxiety and depression across the lifespan, as well as reducing risk for dementia. She has a particular interest in developing and evaluating psychological interventions for older adults in clinical trials and translation of these programs into public and private mental health settings. She developed the Ageing Wisely program for treating comorbid anxiety and depression and has demonstrated its efficacy in several large clinical trials, including when delivered by allied health professionals in routine settings. She developed the Ageing Well Tool for reducing risk for dementia in primary care, and is currently evaluating its efficacy in a clinical trial in GP practices across NSW and Victoria. The impact of her work has been recently recognised with the 2024 Australian Association of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Mid-Career Award, and the Clinical College of the Australian Psychological Society Ian M Campbell Memorial Prize (2023).

 

Keywords: Dementia Risk Reduction, Screening and Early intervention