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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| General practitioners' knowledge, confidence and attitudes in the diagnosis and management of dementia | | Author(s) | Stephen Turner, Steve Iliffe, Murna Downs |
| Journal title | Age and Ageing, vol 33, no 5, September 2004 |
| Pages | pp 461-466 |
| Source | http://www.ageing.oupjournals.org |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Diagnosis ; Attitude ; Screening. |
| Annotation | Professional education for general practitioners (GPs) about the use of screening instruments and the differential diagnosis of dementia may be misdirected. Knowledge deficits occur more in how to respond to dementia syndromes and their problems, and in awareness of the prevalence of dementia, which is overestimated. Higher levels of knowledge about dementia amongst GPs are associated with younger age, female sex, and a more positive attitude to open communication with patients. The belief that dementia care is a specialist responsibility is associated with older age, male sex and less knowledge about dementia. Professional knowledge around dementia care in general practice should address issues of local resource constraints, inaccurate estimations of disease prevalence and clusters of negative attitudes to dementia care that may impede service development for this patient group. Educational support for GPs should concentrate on epidemiological knowledge, disclosure of the diagnosis, and management of behaviour problems in dementia. The availability and profile of support services, particularly social care, needs to be enhanced, if earlier diagnosis is to be pursued as a policy objective in primary care. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-040921211 A |
| Classmark | EA: LK7: DP: 3V |
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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