| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
Knowledge about symptoms of Alzheimer's disease
— correlates and relationship to help-seeking behaviour | | Author(s) | Perla Werner |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 18, no 11, November 2003 |
| Pages | pp 1029-1036 |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Symptoms ; Information needs ; Attitude ; Social surveys. |
| Annotation | 150 community-dwelling people aged 45+ who did not have a close relative diagnosed with dementia participated in this study. Their knowledge about 11 warning signs of Alzheimer's disease (AD) as described in the information provided to the Alzheimer's Association, and 4 non-AD symptoms was assessed, together with intentions to seek help from professional and non-professional sources. Although participants' knowledge about AD symptoms overall was fair, only a slight percentage reported memory problems to be symptoms of the disease. Participants differentiated between AD warning and non-warning signs. Older participants reported consistently more AD than non-AD symptoms, while higher concerns about developing the disease was associated with reporting more non-AD symptoms. Higher knowledge about AD symptoms was associated with increased intentions to seek help from professional sources. Efforts to increase knowledge about AD symptoms should be expanded, with special attention to at-risk groups. Improved recognition of AD symptoms will promote adequate help-seeking behaviours and will increase its early identification and treatment. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-031217212 A |
| Classmark | EA: CT: UV:IK: DP: 3F |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|