Evaluation of an Audio-Visual Novela to Improve Beliefs, Attitudes and Knowledge toward Dementia: A Mixed-Methods Approach.

Objectives: Dementia is a clinical syndrome characterized by progressive degeneration in cognitive ability that limits the capacity for independent living. Interventions are needed to target the medical, social, psychological, and knowledge needs of caregivers and patients. This study used a mixed methods approach to evaluate the effectiveness of a dementia novela presented in an audio-visual format in improving dementia attitudes, beliefs and knowledge.

Methods: Adults from Los Angeles (N = 42, 83% female, 90% Hispanic/Latino, mean age = 42.2 years, 41.5% with less than a high school education) viewed an audio-visual novela on dementia. Participants completed surveys immediately before and after viewing the material.

Results: The novela produced significant improvements in overall knowledge (t(41) = -9.79, p < .0001) and led to positive increases in specific attitudes toward people with dementia but not in beliefs that screening would be beneficial. Qualitative results provided concordant and discordant evidence for the quantitative findings.

Conclusions: Results indicate that an audio-visual novela can be useful for improving attitudes and knowledge about dementia, but further work is needed to investigate the relation with health disparities in screening and treatment behaviors.

Clinical Implications: Audio visual novelas are an innovative format for health education and change attitudes and knowledge about dementia.