Knowledge of Alzheimer's Disease Among Patients, Carers, and Noncarer Adults

Abstract

Background: There is limited previous research that has examined level of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) knowledge and misconceptions using a structured questionnaire across a range of samples. To address this gap the current study investigated knowledge, knowledge gaps and misconceptions about AD in a sample of non-carers, caregivers, and individual's with Alzheimer's Disease. Method: A modified version of the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge (ADK) test was administered to 13 carers, 20 non-carer older adults, and 10 people with AD. Two sets of analyses were undertaken, first to identify group differences in the amount of knowledge reported by each group and second, to determine the nature of peoples' understanding of AD. Results: Overall level of knowledge in the three groups was quite poor. Whilst carers had significantly greater AD knowledge than non-carers or patients, carers correctly answered approximately 50% of items only. Relative to non-carers and AD patients, carers demonstrated a higher number of commonly held correct beliefs than participants in the other two groups, who held relatively few correct beliefs. All three groups had some misconceptions about AD. Conclusions: These findings suggest that education programs targeting the elderly community in general and AD patients specifically may be needed, but also that carer knowledge of AD could be further improved. Future educational interventions could be tailored to address the knowledge needs of each of the groups identified in this study. In particular, the need to address misconceptions and knowledge gaps shared by more than one group should be a priority.