Background: Increasing public awareness and understanding of dementia is the second key action area of the 2017 WHO Global action plan on a public health response to dementia. To achieve this aim, the first indispensable step is to understand the average level of dementia knowledge and to identify areas of low dementia knowledge. We aimed to quantify dementia knowledge in the general population, and to explore the extent to which it differs by age, sex, education, and indirect experience with dementia.
Methods: We conducted an online cross-sectional survey in two Italian-speaking sites, south Switzerland (Ticino) and northern Italy (Piedmont). The survey was distributed between September and December 2019. We registered socio-demographic characteristics including whether the participant had contact with a person living with dementia, and measured dementia knowledge with the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Survey (DKAS).
Results: Misconceptions about dementia were common among respondents, and lack of knowledge has been identified in dementia causes, characteristics, risk factors, and health promotion. Our results point out the lack of knowledge about how to communicate and relate with, and take care of a person living with dementia. The overall DKAS score was significantly and positively associated with female sex (β = 0.21; p < 0.001), educational level (β = 0.15; p < 0.001) and contact with a person living with dementia (β = 0.17; p < 0.001), but not with age (β = -0.01; p = 0.57).
Conclusion: Our results confirmed that general population's knowledge of dementia is thin. Interventional studies that rely on participatory action research methods are warranted to co-design interventions aimed at improving dementia knowledge and understanding in the public.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9701025 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14578-8 | DOI Listing |
Background: People with Alzheimer's disease (AD) exhibit varying clinical trajectories. There is a need to predict future AD-related outcomes such as morbidity and mortality using clinical profile at the point of care.
Objective: To stratify AD patients based on baseline clinical profiles (up to two years prior to AD diagnosis) and update the model after AD diagnosis to prognosticate future AD-related outcomes.
Health Res Policy Syst
January 2025
Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Background: Non-pharmacological dementia research products, such as social and behavioural interventions, are generated in traditional university settings. These often experience challenges to impact practices that they were developed for. The Netherlands established five specialized academic health science centres, referred to as Alzheimer Centres, to structurally coordinate and facilitate the utilization of dementia research knowledge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Aging
January 2025
Department of Computing, Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, China (Hong Kong).
Background: Providing ongoing support to the increasing number of caregivers as their needs change in the long-term course of dementia is a severe challenge to any health care system. Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) operating 24/7 may help to tackle this problem.
Objective: This study describes the development of a generative AI chatbot-the PDC30 Chatbot-and evaluates its acceptability in a mixed methods study.
Dementia (London)
January 2025
Deakin University, Australia.
Background: Adequate dementia care knowledge of graduate nurses is essential for the wellbeing of both people living with dementia as well as the graduate nurses caring for them. Little is known about the dementia care knowledge, experience or confidence of graduate nurses caring for people living with dementia. This paper aims to review the available literature on graduate nurses caring for people living with dementia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Society commonly believes that research knowledge is complementary to public decision-making. This study aimed to understand the perspectives and implications of dementia researchers communicating with policymakers and public research decision-makers (public officials).
Methods: This study uses 24 questions from an anonymous, online survey, which was received by 392 members of nine European, Latin American, and United States medical researcher associations/networks in the fields of age-related neurological degeneration and dementia medicine.
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!