Dementia awareness, motivation and modifiable risk factors amongst older Australians in regional communities

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundDementia is the second leading cause of death in regional Australia. A large body of research into modifiable dementia risk factors and awareness levels has been gathered with metropolitan communities, yet this remains unexplored within regional areas. Therefore, this study aims to 1) identify awareness of modifiable dementia risk factors; 2) identify the presence/absence of modifiable dementia risk factors; and 3) explore sociodemographic and motivation characteristics associated with modifiable dementia risk in regional areas of AustraliaMethodCross‐sectional data of dementia awareness and risk levels in 180 adults >65 living in rural and remote regions within New South Wales, were collected using an online survey. Data included demographics, awareness of dementia risk factors (British Social Attitudes survey), presence/absence of modifiable dementia risk factors (LIBRA), motivation to reduce dementia risk (MCLHB‐DRR) and social connections (LSNS‐6). Descriptive analyses was used to identify awareness as well as presence/absence of risk factors and univariate associations were used to explore demographic factors and motivation characteristics, associated with dementia awareness and dementia risk.ResultParticipants had a mean age of 72.2 (SD = 5.5) years, majority were female (70%), and had less than 10 years of education (41.1%). 41.7% were from a low socio‐economic background and 97.2% were born in an English‐speaking country. A substantial proportion of participants agreed that dementia risk is modifiable (73.3%) and identified an average of 5.7 (SD = 3.1, out of 12) dementia risk factors correctly. The motivation domain of perceived susceptibility towards dementia was low (11.3 out of 20; SD = 3.4; [4‐20]), and few social connections were reported (8.2; SD = 9.3; [0‐30]).ConclusionRural and remote Australian older adults having a basic understanding that dementia is not inevitable, however, they remain unaware of more than half of the risk and protective factors for dementia. Given the consistencies in dementia risk and the inconsequential association between sociodemographic variables in regional areas, future interventions should adopt a population health approach to improve awareness and create opportunities for communities to target health risk factors contributing to dementia.