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A library for All - The Dementia-friendly library Wiener Neustadt (Austria)


People with dementia and their carers may experience restrictions in social participation and there is a need for information about living with cognitive impairment. Public organizations need to provide good health information to support citizens and improve their health literacy when living with cognitive impairment. Libraries are educational facilities that provide information and offer space and possibilities to meet for people of all ages.

We aim to create a dementia-friendly library in collaboration with two other organizations in the community: the information service point of the city hall and a museum in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. The project’s aims are to promote health and foster social participation of people with dementia and their carers as well as to contribute to de-stigmatization and enhance health-Literacy. Using a participatory health research design based on needs assessments will ensure sustainability.

All interventions are developed collaboratively together in the steering group with the local self-help group Alzheimer Austria including the perspective of carers of people with dementia and an activist living with cognitive impairment as well as the organizations. It is funded by the “Fonds Gesundes Österreich” with the number 3084 and led by the Working Group “dementia friendly library” consisting of the University of applied sciences Wiener Neustadt and the Department of Nursing science, University of Vienna.