Kim Sarang, Werner Perla, Richardson Alice, Anstey Kaarin J
Centre for Research on Ageing, Health & Wellbeing, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Wicking Dementia Research & Education Centre, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
Contemp Clin Trials Commun. 2019 Mar 29;14:100351. doi: 10.1016/j.conctc.2019.100351. eCollection 2019 Jun.
Dementia is considered to be a highly stigmatized condition leading to significant negative effects on the health and well-being of people with dementia and people supporting someone living with dementia. Even though there has been an increasing amount of research on dementia-related stigma over the past two decades, research on effective, evidence-based approaches to reduce dementia-related public stigma is still lacking.
A 2 × 2 factorial randomized controlled trial (RCT) is being conducted to evaluate the feasibility and short-term efficacy of an online intervention program. It compares different approaches to reduce dementia-related public stigma: 1) Education (ED) that is designed to provide written information on dementia; 2) Contact (CT) that is designed to offer indirect virtual contact with people with dementia and/or people supporting someone with dementia; 3) Education plus contact (ED + CT) that is designed to provide both written information on dementia and indirect virtual contact with people with dementia and/or people supporting someone living with dementia; and 4) an active control condition receiving written information on general health. We aim to recruit 500 lay persons aged 40 and over, to complete a questionnaire measuring the level of dementia-related public stigma, assessed with a modified Attribution Questionnaire and dementia knowledge, assessed with the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale version 2 at baseline and follow-up assessments (immediately after the intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention).
Results from this trial will provide evidence on the most effective approach in reducing dementia-related public stigma. The results are also likely to form an evidence base for the feasibility of dementia-related public stigma campaigns to educate the general public.
痴呆症被认为是一种极具污名化的疾病，会对痴呆症患者以及照顾痴呆症患者的人的健康和幸福产生重大负面影响。尽管在过去二十年中，关于痴呆症相关污名的研究越来越多，但仍缺乏关于有效、基于证据的方法来减少痴呆症相关公众污名的研究。
正在进行一项2×2析因随机对照试验（RCT），以评估在线干预项目的可行性和短期疗效。该试验比较了不同的减少痴呆症相关公众污名的方法：1）教育（ED），旨在提供有关痴呆症的书面信息；2）接触（CT），旨在提供与痴呆症患者和/或照顾痴呆症患者的人进行间接虚拟接触；3）教育加接触（ED + CT），旨在既提供有关痴呆症的书面信息，又提供与痴呆症患者和/或照顾痴呆症患者的人进行间接虚拟接触；4）一个积极对照条件，接受有关一般健康的书面信息。我们的目标是招募500名40岁及以上的普通民众，完成一份测量痴呆症相关公众污名水平的问卷，使用改良的归因问卷进行评估，以及痴呆症知识问卷，使用痴呆症知识评估量表第2版在基线和随访评估（干预后立即和干预后12周）时进行评估。
该试验的结果将为减少痴呆症相关公众污名的最有效方法提供证据。这些结果也可能为痴呆症相关公众污名宣传活动对公众进行教育的可行性形成一个证据基础。
