| 229 people with dementia to share their experiences in dementia research. In addition, the Cognisance Consortium had a team member who had dementia and was able to provide the lived experience and contribute valuable input around designing data collection methods and recruitment. Second, this thesis consisted largely of international research that was conducted across countries strengthening its impact. The findings of this thesis showed that it is feasible to identify common experiences whilst not neglecting the subtleties that exist across countries. Quantitative research in multiple countries can easily compare and contrast answers across countries when sample sizes are large enough. Qualitative research is often concerned with subjective experiences and in dementia, these are not independent of cultural factors and the organization of healthcare systems. Collecting, analyzing and interpreting data across countries can be challenging. Research could develop standardized qualitative analysis strategies for cross-country data to strengthen the impact of this type of valuable research. Our mixed methods study highlighted that healthcare professionals utilize strategies to foster the connection between diagnosis and support but also encounter several barriers to bridging the gap between a dementia diagnosis and subsequent support. Future research can expand on these findings and take into account the role of policymakers in formulating concrete actions and strategies to bridge the gap between diagnosis and support. Societal Impact The findings of this thesis are relevant to a broad audience and several implementation and dissemination activities have been undertaken. First, people with dementia and informal caregivers can benefit from the website ‘Forward with Dementia’ that was developed based on findings from this thesis. This is an information website for people living with dementia, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals. The website is available in Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom. The website was co-designed with people with dementia, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals. The co-design groups emphasized it was important to re-frame the picture of dementia to counter-act stigma. This was achieved by using active language and optimistic and realistic pictures of older people. Within the content, people with dementia were directly addressed, which was
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