Devoy Susan, Simpson Ellen Elizabeth Anne
a School of Psychology , Ulster University , Northern Ireland , UK.
b Psychology Research Institute , Ulster University , Northern Ireland , UK.
Aging Ment Health. 2017 Aug;21(8):870-878. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2016.1179262. Epub 2016 May 5.
To identify factors that may increase intentions to seek help for an early dementia diagnosis. Early dementia diagnosis in Ireland is low, reducing the opportunity for intervention, which can delay progression, reduce psychological distress and increase social supports.
Using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), and a mixed methods approach, three focus groups were conducted (N = 22) to illicit attitudes and beliefs about help seeking for an early dementia diagnosis. The findings informed the development of the Help Seeking Intentions for Early Dementia Diagnosis (HSIEDD) questionnaire which was piloted and then administered to a sample of community dwelling adults from Dublin and Kildare (N = 95).
Content analysis revealed participants held knowledge of the symptoms of dementia but not about available interventions. Facilitators of help seeking were family, friends and peers alongside well informed health professionals. Barriers to seeking help were a lack of knowledge, fear, loss, stigma and inaccessible services. The quantitative findings suggest the TPB constructs account for almost 28% of the variance in intentions to seek help for an early diagnosis of dementia, after controlling for sociodemographic variables and knowledge of dementia. In the final step of the regression analysis, the main predictors of help seeking were knowledge of dementia and subjective norm, accounting for 6% and 8% of the variance, respectively.
Future interventions should aim to increase awareness of the support available to those experiencing early memory problems, and should highlight the supportive role that family, friends, peers and health professionals could provide.
确定可能增加寻求早期痴呆症诊断帮助意愿的因素。爱尔兰早期痴呆症的诊断率较低，这减少了干预的机会，而干预可以延缓疾病进展、减轻心理困扰并增加社会支持。
运用计划行为理论（TPB）并采用混合方法，开展了三个焦点小组（N = 22），以了解对寻求早期痴呆症诊断帮助的态度和信念。这些研究结果为早期痴呆症诊断寻求帮助意愿（HSIEDD）问卷的开发提供了依据，该问卷进行了预试验，然后对来自都柏林和基尔代尔的社区居住成年人样本（N = 95）进行了施测。
内容分析显示，参与者了解痴呆症的症状，但不了解可用的干预措施。寻求帮助的促进因素包括家人、朋友和同龄人以及知识渊博的健康专业人员。寻求帮助的障碍包括知识不足、恐惧、失落、耻辱感和服务难以获得。定量研究结果表明，在控制了社会人口统计学变量和痴呆症知识后，TPB 结构几乎解释了寻求早期痴呆症诊断帮助意愿中近 28%的变异。在回归分析的最后一步，寻求帮助的主要预测因素是痴呆症知识和主观规范，分别解释了 6%和 8%的变异。
未来的干预措施应旨在提高对早期记忆问题患者可获得支持的认识，并应突出家庭、朋友、同龄人及健康专业人员可提供的支持作用。
