Abstract
BackgroundLittle is known about staff’s attitudes in Irish acute hospital settings towards people living with dementia and their perceived dementia knowledge. The aim of this study was to understand the general level of dementia knowledge and attitudes towards dementia in different types of hospital staff, as well as to explore the potential influence of previous dementia training and experience (having a family member with dementia) and the potential moderating effects of personal characteristics. This data was required to plan and deliver general and targeted educational interventions to raise awareness of dementia throughout the acute services.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was carried out among a diverse range of hospital staff (n = 1795) in three urban acute general hospitals in Ireland, including doctors, nurses, healthcare attendants, allied professionals, and general support staff. Participants’ perceived dementia knowledge and attitudes were assessed as well as their previous dementia training and experience. To measure participant’s attitude towards dementia, the validated Approaches to Dementia Questionnaire (ADQ) was used.ResultsHospital staff demonstrated positive attitudes towards people living with dementia, and believed they had a fair to moderate understanding of dementia. Both ‘having previous dementia training’ and ‘having a relative living with dementia’ predicted attitude towards dementia and perceived dementia knowledge. Interestingly, certain personal staff characteristics did impact dementia training in predicting attitude towards dementia and perceived dementia knowledge.ConclusionThis study provides a baseline of data regarding the attitudes towards dementia and perceived dementia knowledge for hospital staff in Irish acute hospitals. The results can inform educational initiatives that target different hospital staff, in order to increase awareness and knowledge to improve quality of dementia care in Irish hospitals.
Highlights
Little is known about staff’s attitudes in Irish acute hospital settings towards people living with dementia and their perceived dementia knowledge
In order to investigate potential impact that demographic factors might have on the participant’s dementia training and personal experiences with dementia in predicting their attitude towards people living with dementia (ADQ score) or their perceived dementia knowledge, a series of two-way Univariate analysis of variances (ANOVAs) were conducted to investigate potential interaction effects with gender, age (18–54.9 years old versus 55–75 years old) and job roles
We investigated whether having previous training in dementia or having personal experience with dementia would predict participant attitudes towards dementia or their perceived dementia knowledge and whether demographic factors would impact on participants’ dementia training and personal experiences with dementia in predicting their attitude towards people living with dementia (ADQ score) or their perceived dementia knowledge
Summary
Little is known about staff’s attitudes in Irish acute hospital settings towards people living with dementia and their perceived dementia knowledge. The aim of this study was to understand the general level of dementia knowledge and attitudes towards dementia in different types of hospital staff, as well as to explore the potential influence of previous dementia training and experience (having a family member with dementia) and the potential moderating effects of personal characteristics This data was required to plan and deliver general and targeted educational interventions to raise awareness of dementia throughout the acute services. Limited knowledge and understanding of dementia among general hospital staff, coupled with organisational constraints on a busy hospital ward and traditional task approaches to care within acute settings, can contribute to negative attitudes towards people living with dementia and challenges to the ability to provide personcentred care [11, 13, 14, 20, 21]. There is a lack of understanding and knowledge of person-centred care within the acute hospital setting [13] resulting in poorer experiences and outcomes for people living with dementia [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]
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