College students' and community members' attitudes toward dementia: The impact of dementia friends sessions

Dementia awareness raising forum: Improving attitudes towards people living with dementia

Stigma surrounding dementia is a significant issue affecting individuals and communities leading to discrimination towards those living with the condition. However, the changing paradigm in dementia support to living well with dementia can reduce this stigma and improve community attitudes. A community initiative aimed to address this evaluated the impact of a two-hour education forum involving 92 community members. Presentations from experts, including a person with dementia, addressed dementia-related human rights issues and initiatives to live well with dementia. Attendees completed the new Dementia Community Attitudes Questionnaire (DCAQ) aligned with the evolving paradigm of living well with dementia before and after the forum. Participants with prior dementia education had higher initial scores while those without education showed more significant improvements. Almost all DCAQ items showed post-forum score improvements. This community Dementia Awareness Raising Forum provided an opportunity for people to come together and initiate conversations around dementia resulting in more positive community attitudes.

A mixed-methods evaluation of a dementia education program for hospital staff and volunteers in Melbourne, Australia

People with dementia have a high likelihood of being hospitalized at some point during the disease process. Recent research has found that more can be done to improve dementia care in hospitals. One of the strategies suggested to help achieve this objective is to provide dementia education programs to hospital staff. Such programs have the potential to improve the knowledge, attitudes, and skills of staff in caring for people with dementia to optimize their in-hospital experiences and clinical outcomes. This paper reports a mixed-methods evaluation of a dementia education program delivered to staff at a hospital in Melbourne, Australia. The quantitative evaluation found significant improvements in participant's knowledge of dementia but did not show significant improvements in "social comfort," a measure of how comfortable respondents are around people with dementia. Qualitative interview data supported the quantitative finding regarding improvements in knowledge about dementia and demonstrated participants were largely satisfied with the content of the education program. However, qualitative data also indicated a problem with engagement with some non-clinical staff. There is a need to improve the quality of care for patients with dementia in hospitals, and this study shows that a dementia education program can be effective in improving staff knowledge about people with dementia.

Assessing the impact of an online dementia awareness initiative co-created with and for English, Arabic and Vietnamese speaking communities: A case study

BACKGROUND

Awareness and understanding of dementia remain limited in ethnically diverse populations in multicultural societies due to culturally inappropriate and inaccessible information.

OBJECTIVE

To establish the impact, helpers and hinderers of an online multilingual dementia awareness initiative co-created with and for English, Arabic and Vietnamese speaking people.

DESIGN

A case study using mixed methods to assess the impact and implementation of an information session on dementia knowledge.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

The study was conducted with English, Arabic and Vietnamese speaking individuals in Canterbury-Bankstown, Australia.

INTERVENTION STUDIED

A dementia alliance co-created an online multilingual dementia information session, which was delivered synchronously in English, Arabic and Vietnamese by trained facilitators.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

In-session group discussions, quizzes and a postsession survey assessed the impact on dementia knowledge. A postimplementation focus group explored the factors that helped and hindered the initiative.

RESULTS

The online dementia information session successfully supported participants understanding of dementia causes, impacts and care strategies. The initiative was hindered by competing priorities and limited accessibility to target audiences, while it was helped by the support of an established organisation and feedback mechanisms.

DISCUSSION

Ongoing dementia education and awareness-raising campaigns that are culturally sensitive are needed in communities to promote dementia literacy and help-seeking.

CONCLUSIONS

An online multilingual dementia information session can be an effective way to improve dementia literacy and advocate for change in multicultural communities.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

English, Arabic and Vietnamese speaking members of the Canterbury Bankstown Dementia Alliance participated in the co-creation and evaluation of this initiative.

BPSD reconsidered: diagnostic considerations to preserve personhood in persons with dementia

BPSD is relatively common but profoundly disturbing to persons with dementia, their family, and caregivers. Growing recognition of the impact of BPSD on quality of life has improved recently, but assessment and management approaches are still lacking. Considerable controversy surrounding the label of BPSD has garnered a great deal of attention, with implications of its contribution to the already pervasive dementia-related stigma experienced by persons with dementia and their caregivers. This brief review aims to summarize salient viewpoints, controversies, and considerations of the assessment, management, and perception of BPSD, in an effort to offer potential recharacterizations of BPSD to promote and prioritize personhood in persons with dementia.

Effect of a dementia friends information session on health professional students' attitudes and knowledge related to dementia

Despite the growing prevalence of dementia, few models of training for health professional students on this topic have been formally evaluated or widely disseminated. The Dementia Friends (DF) initiative is part of a global movement to improve the way people think, act, and talk about dementia. The impact of these sessions on the dementia-related knowledge and attitudes of health professional trainees has not been adequately assessed. Health professional students (medicine n = 70, physical therapy n = 30, pharmacy n = 28) participated in one-hour DF information sessions, offered in-person or via videoconference. The Dementia Attitudes Scale (DAS), a validated 20-item questionnaire, was administered before and after each session. Pre- and post-session DAS scores were compared using a paired t-test. Students' dementia-friendly action plans were analyzed qualitatively. Of 128 students, 102 (80%) completed both the pre- and post-DAS. The mean DAS score increased significantly from 105.8 (12.3) to 120.8 (10.5) following the DF sessions (p < .001). Students' dementia-friendly action plans included improving communication, promoting quality of life, and learning more about dementia. The DF information session model significantly increased the knowledge and positive attitudes of health professional students toward those living with dementia. Further use and study of this model is appropriate.

Dementia education and training for the general public: A scoping review

The lack of public awareness and understanding of dementia affects the experiences of people living with dementia and their families. Dementia education and training for the general public have been gradually disseminated. We conducted a systematic scoping review guided by PRISMA-ScR to map existing evidence and identify dementia education and training available to the general public. From the four electronic databases, 41 articles were identified. Dementia education has three main purposes: dementia friendliness (n = 25), early diagnosis/help-seeking (n = 10), and prevention (n = 6). Education aimed at dementia friendliness was delivered in the community (n = 6), schools/universities (n =14), workplaces (n = 2), and online (n = 3). Interventions aimed at early diagnosis and prevention were often conducted in communities with middle-aged and older people or specific ethnic groups. Eleven dementia-friendliness studies reported on the interaction with people living with dementia to reduce stigma. Dementia knowledge, attitudes, and preventive behaviors were assessed as outcomes. Though randomized controlled trials were conducted in early diagnosis and prevention studies via e-learning, they were not performed in dementia-friendliness studies. Therefore, there is a need to further accumulate evidence of dementia education for each of these purposes.

A two-step model for encouraging the general public to exhibit helping behaviors towards people living with dementia

Background and Objectives

Dementia awareness initiatives aim to promote helping behaviors towards people living with dementia. We applied the bystander intervention process model in the context of the general public’s helping behaviors towards people living with dementia, and we sought to identify the mechanisms underlying the association between dementia knowledge and helping behaviors.

Research Design and Methods

In a survey featuring vignettes for the general public in Japan (N = 904), we presented four situations in which people could exhibit helping behaviors towards a person with dementia. Guttman scale analysis was used to test this sequential ordering of the bystander intervention process model: (1) interpreting the need to help, (2) perceiving personal responsibility, and (3) intention to provide help. Mediation analysis was used to examine whether the effects of knowledge on helping behaviors were mediated by attitude towards people living with dementia and the bystander intervention process.

Results

The results support the two-step model in which interpreting the situation as one where assistance is required is a prerequisite of helping behavior. Dementia knowledge had a significant total effect on intention to provide help (β = 0.136, p &lt; 0.001). Interpretation (indirect effect: β = 0.092, p &lt; 0.001), as well as attitude (indirect effect: β = 0.044, p &lt; 0.001), was found to completely mediate the effect of dementia knowledge on intention to provide help.

Discussion and Implications

Dementia awareness initiatives designed to promote helping behaviors should focus on knowledge transfer, improving the general public’s attitudes towards people living with dementia, and their ability to interpret when such people need assistance.

The effect of a dementia awareness class on changing dementia attitudes in adolescents

Background

Current evidence suggests that negative and stigmatising attitudes towards dementia may develop at a young age. There are a number of dementia education and awareness initiatives aimed at reducing stigma, though they have not been robustly evaluated to establish the impact on dementia attitudes or suitability in adolescent populations. This study explored the efficacy and satisfaction of one such initiative (Dementia Friends) in a British adolescent sample.

Methods

301 adolescents (M = 12.6 years old, SD = 0.73) were assigned to either receive Dementia Friends (a 60-min interactive class that teaches about dementia and its effects on people’s lives) or education as usual. All participants completed a series of validated questionnaires pre- and post-intervention, related to dementia attitudes (Brief A-ADS and KIDS).

Results

Adolescents in the dementia awareness group showed little to no improvements between time-points. The change scores in the dementia awareness group did not significantly differ to the control group based on both KIDS (d = − 0.003, p = 0.98) and Brief A-ADS (d = 0.14, p = 0.13) measures. There was no Group x Time effect after controlling for confounding variables.

Conclusions

Dementia Friends is successful in terms of reach and impact, though this study suggests that it may fall short of achieving its goal of improving attitudes towards dementia. Importantly, Dementia Friends did not have a negative effect on attitudes, and the majority of adolescents enjoyed the sessions. It is important that these findings are replicated in a larger randomised-controlled study.