Section of Epidemiology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, SE5 8AF, UK.
Gerontologist. 2013 Jun;53(3):462-73. doi: 10.1093/geront/gns083. Epub 2012 Sep 7.
Subjective memory complaint is a term used to refer older adults who report memory problems. Extensive literature exists on its etiology and impact on long-term cognitive decline, and some physicians consider it important in the early detection of dementia. Despite the salient features reported by both patients and clinicians, few people seek formal help for this complaint, and little research has investigated the underlying reasons for this. The current study explored beliefs, attitudes, and help-seeking behaviors.
A qualitative study was carried out comprising of 18 face-to-face in-depth interviews. The primary aim was to compare and contrast experiences between people, who sought formal help (n = 9), recruited from a memory service and those who did not seek formal help (n = 9) recruited from a screened community population.
The need for both to describe the experiences of an unexplored group and to develop a conceptual help-seeking model prompted the use of thematic framework analysis. Three themes were identified as facilitators and barriers to formal health service use: (a) concern, (b) causation, and (c) perceptions of general practitioner. We identified two further key areas central to shaping help-seeking responses: (a) informal help seeking and (b) alternative pathways to care.
These findings suggest that there is a potential for modifying beliefs and attitudes towards help seeking and can inform the development of services and policy to facilitate help seeking and target and provide improved care or treatment when formal help is sought.
主观记忆主诉是一个术语，用于指代报告有记忆问题的老年人。大量文献研究了其病因及其对长期认知衰退的影响，一些医生认为这在痴呆症的早期检测中很重要。尽管患者和临床医生都报告了明显的特征，但很少有人为此主诉寻求正式帮助，而且很少有研究调查这种情况的根本原因。本研究探讨了信念、态度和寻求帮助的行为。
进行了一项定性研究，包括 18 次面对面的深入访谈。主要目的是比较和对比那些从记忆服务机构中寻求正式帮助（n = 9）的人与那些不从社区人群中筛选出的寻求正式帮助（n = 9）的人的经历。
需要描述一个未经探索的群体的经历并开发一个概念性的寻求帮助模型，这促使我们使用主题框架分析。确定了三个促进和阻碍正式健康服务使用的主题：（a）关注，（b）原因，（c）全科医生的看法。我们确定了两个对塑造寻求帮助反应至关重要的关键领域：（a）非正式寻求帮助，（b）替代护理途径。
这些发现表明，有可能改变对寻求帮助的信念和态度，并为服务和政策的制定提供信息，以促进寻求帮助，并在寻求正式帮助时针对和提供更好的护理或治疗。
