Abstract
Background It is unclear how attitudes towards people with dementia are formed and whether, for instance, increased contact with people with dementia, either through work or personal experience alters attitudes. This study used a validated questionnaire (the Approaches to Dementia Questionnaire) to examine whether having experience of dementia (either as a result of work, or by being affected by dementia) is associated with differences in attitudes towards dementia. Methods A modified version of the Approaches to Dementia Questionnaire was completed by 2201 participants, either online or in written form. Participants also recorded their age, gender and ethnicity as well as whether they worked with people with dementia or had been personally affected by dementia. Results Increased contact with people with dementia was associated with increases in both total Approaches to Dementia Questionnaire scores and across both sub-scales reflecting more positive person-centred attitudes toward dementia. The highest levels of increase were found amongst non-white participants. Conclusions This study is, we believe, the first attempt to look systematically at whether greater contact with people with dementia is associated with changes in attitudes. The results strongly support the contention that increased contact with people with dementia leads to more person-centred attitudes, and by inference, less stigmatising views.
Highlights
A key element of government policy within the United Kingdom (UK) and elsewhere has been to build dementia-friendly communities, and to reduce the stigma that people with dementia face (Department of Health, 2012)
Nursing staff working within institutional care who have received training typically show more positive attitudes about people living with dementia (e.g., Leung et al, 2013)
Where wider surveys of the attitudes of the general public toward dementia have been undertaken (e.g., McParland et al, 2012), results suggest the general public has, at best, a fair to moderate knowledge about dementia, but there are often misconceptions, such as believing dementia to be a normal part of ageing
Summary
A key element of government policy within the United Kingdom (UK) and elsewhere has been to build dementia-friendly communities, and to reduce the stigma that people with dementia face (Department of Health, 2012). It is unclear how attitudes towards people with dementia are formed and whether, for instance, increased contact with people with dementia, either through work or personal experience alters attitudes Research in this area has typically focussed on attitudes of professionals working with individuals living with dementia (e.g., Kokkonen et al, 2014; Leung et al, 2013; Lintern, 2001) or on attitudes to mental ill-health across the general population. Research into attitudes toward dementia often tends to focus on specific issues such as screening for dementia (Bond et al, 2010), euthanasia (Williams et al, 2007) or artificial feeding (Bryon, de Casterlé & Gastmans, 2008), rather than on wider issues These surveys often do not use validated scales (Cahill et al, 2015), or directly compare attitudes across settings, populations, or over time
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