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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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What are patients and their families told about the diagnosis of dementia?
— results of a family survey | | Author(s) | Suzanne Holroyd, Quentin Turnbull, Andrew M Wolf |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 17, no 3, March 2002 |
| Pages | pp 218-221 |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Diagnosis ; The Family ; Attitude ; Social surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Controversy exists as to whether dementia patients should be told their diagnosis and prognosis. An American study of 57 family members from community dementia support groups answered a questionnaire regarding a family member's diagnosis of dementia. Family members were significantly more likely to have been told the diagnosis and symptoms to expect in dementia than patients themselves. Half of the families felt they were not given enough information about dementia. Most of the family members believed patients should be told their diagnosis and prognosis, yet about half had reported that informed patients had reacted badly to being told, and only about a third thought it was helpful to the patient. Results suggest that the current American Medical Association (AMA) guidelines to inform patients their diagnosis of dementia are inadequate to address the clinical complexities of this issue. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-020327509 A |
| Classmark | EA: LK7: SJ: DP: 3F: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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