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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Characteristics of help-seeking behaviour in subjects with subjective memory complaints at a memory clinic
— a case-control study | | Author(s) | Inez H G B Ramakers, Pieter Jelle Visser, Arnold J N Bittermann |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 24, no 2, February 2009 |
| Pages | pp 190-196 |
| Source | http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/gps |
| Keywords | Memory disorders ; Geriatric out-patients clinics ; Clinical surveys ; Netherlands. |
| Annotation | Memory complaints in the absence of objective test impairments are common, but only a sub-set of subjects seeks medical attention for these complaints. This study investigates which factors determine why people with subjective memory complaints (SMC) seek medical attention. 33 cases with SMC from the Maastricht Memory Clinic were compared to 85 control subjects with SMC from the Maastricht Aging Study who did not seek help for their complaints. The authors investigated whether cases differed from controls with respect to: depressive and anxiety symptoms (SCL-90), extraversion and neuroticism (EPQ), meta-memory (MIA), quality of life (SF-36), changes in memory and daily functioning according to a relative (DECO), life-changing events, and a family history of dementia. Cases with SMC who seek medical attention scored lower on memory self-efficacy and quality of life. They were more often worried due to daily functioning than relatives of controls. Both cases and controls had similar levels of depression and anxiety symptoms as well as levels of extraversion and neuroticism. Lower memory self-efficacy and quality of life, deterioration in daily functioning and worries due to a positive family history for dementia are factors that determine why subjects with SMC seek medical attention. This information may be useful for the development of interventions for these subjects. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-090421210 A |
| Classmark | EH: L6G: 3G: 76H |
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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