Yang Tingting, Huang Yanyan, Li Xinghui, Li Mengying, Ma Suisui, Xuan Guo, Jiang Yihua, Sun Shuangyuan, Yang Yinghua, Wu Zhuochun, Li Xiangyun, Wang Ying
School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Department of Geriatrics, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2021 Mar 8;14:959-966. doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S296044. eCollection 2021.
China has the largest population of patients with dementia worldwide, no assessment of illiterate old population's dementia knowledge, attitudes, stigma have been conducted so far in China.
This study focused on the impact of education on knowledge, attitudes, and stigma related to dementia.
The community-based sample used in this study was recruited using multi-stage random sampling from residents aged ≥60 years registered in Shanghai. We used the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-30) to identify depression, and the Ascertain Dementia 8 questionnaire (AD8) for evaluating participants' cognitive impairment. Knowledge, Attitude, Belief, and Practice scale, Perceptions Regarding Investigational Screening for Memory in Primary Care (PRISM-PC) were used for measuring dementia knowledge, attitudes, stigma. We separated the population into illiterate and literate group, propensity score matching based on age, sex, depression, and cognitive impairment. We calculated the difference of knowledge, attitudes, and stigma related to dementia between illiterate and literate groups.
Two thousand five hundred and eighteen participants completed the survey. After propensity score matching, 186 pairs of matched participants left. The overall correct rate of dementia knowledge was 70.34%. The illiterate group had a lower percentage of correct answers for each knowledge item. The item "Dementia is not a disease, it is forgetfulness due to aging" had the lowest accuracy rate in both groups (38.71% vs. 50.54%, p=0.022). Illiterate older adults were less accepting of dementia than literate older adults. The majority of participants did not agree that: "There is no need to visit a doctor when older people have memory loss, difficulty communicating, or finding words" (56.99% vs. 68.28%). Illiterate older adults had higher scores for the items assessing stigma toward dementia than literate older adults.
Dementia-related knowledge and attitudes among community-dwelling older adults in Shanghai may be related to literacy.
中国是全球痴呆症患者人数最多的国家，目前中国尚未对文盲老年人群的痴呆症知识、态度和污名化情况进行评估。
本研究聚焦于教育对痴呆症相关知识、态度和污名化的影响。
本研究采用多阶段随机抽样方法，从上海市登记在册的60岁及以上居民中选取社区样本。我们使用老年抑郁量表（GDS-30）来识别抑郁情况，并使用痴呆症筛查8问卷（AD8）来评估参与者的认知障碍。知识、态度、信念和实践量表以及初级保健中记忆调查筛查的认知量表（PRISM-PC）用于测量痴呆症知识、态度和污名化情况。我们将人群分为文盲组和识字组，并根据年龄、性别、抑郁和认知障碍进行倾向得分匹配。我们计算了文盲组和识字组在痴呆症相关知识、态度和污名化方面的差异。
2518名参与者完成了调查。经过倾向得分匹配后，留下了186对匹配的参与者。痴呆症知识的总体正确率为70.34%。文盲组每个知识项目的正确答案百分比更低。“痴呆症不是一种疾病，而是衰老导致的健忘”这一项目在两组中的准确率最低（38.71%对50.54%，p = 0.022）。文盲老年人比识字老年人对痴呆症的接受度更低。大多数参与者不同意“老年人出现记忆力减退、沟通困难或找词困难时无需就医”这一观点（56.99%对68.28%）。文盲老年人在评估对痴呆症污名化的项目上得分高于识字老年人。
上海社区居住的老年人中与痴呆症相关的知识和态度可能与识字情况有关。
