Perovnik Matej, Kos Hana, Vidmar Gaj, Fabjan Sara, Hawlina Hana, Tomat Nastja, Trol Dolores, Bresjanac Mara
Slovenian Neuroscience Association - SiNAPSA, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Department of Neurology, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Front Public Health. 2025 Mar 12;13:1490846. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1490846. eCollection 2025.
Knowledge gap theory posits that individuals with better education have better opportunities to obtain, understand and utilise available information. In a health-related context, this insight could lead to a more effective disease prevention. The aim of our study was to test the hypothesis that knowledge gap underlies differences in behaviour aimed at maintaining brain health.
We conducted an online survey investigating Slovenian public view on brain, brain research, and science-based recommendations for brain health. The survey was filled out by a total of 2,568 respondents, of whom 2,450 completed it in full. They were divided into two subgroups based on their self-reported brain-related education, i.e., the lay subgroup ( = 1,012) and a topically educated group ( = 1,438), i.e., the educated subgroup. Among the latter, 728 participants reported to have a Bachelor's degree or higher education. We analysed the views of this sample subgroup on brain, neuroscience, and science-based brain health recommendations, and compared them with age- and education-matched lay subgroup ( = 565) from the same survey.
Educated individuals showed greater awareness and adherence to science-based recommendations compared to the lay respondents, specifically in the perceived importance of following a healthy diet, exercising, ensuring time for rest, relaxation and maintenance of social contacts, acquiring new knowledge and skills and using supplements that are considered to improve mental abilities (all < 0.005), but not in the perceived importance of getting enough sleep, avoiding drugs and alcohol or injuries and performing mentally-challenging activities or cognitive training (all > 0.10). Educated individuals more frequently reported following a healthy diet, engaging in physical activity and socialising, acquiring new knowledge and skills, performing mental challenges and cognitive training, and using supplements (all < 0.005), but not getting sufficient sleep, avoiding drugs, alcohol or injury, or ensuring time for rest and relaxation (all > 0.08). A larger proportion of lay than educated participants (32 and 17%, respectively) identified lack of information as a reason for not engaging in healthy practices ( < 0.001). Educated participants outperformed lay individuals in identifying diseases amenable to lifestyle modification.
Understanding the differences in brain health perceptions between educated and lay individuals is crucial for developing effective public health strategies. Our results highlight a substantial knowledge gap in the Slovenian population and the need for targeted educational interventions that account for varying degrees of knowledge in different population segments which could lead to better adherence to healthy lifestyle practices.
知识差距理论认为，受教育程度较高的个体有更好的机会获取、理解和利用现有信息。在健康相关背景下，这一观点可能带来更有效的疾病预防。我们研究的目的是检验以下假设：知识差距是旨在维持大脑健康的行为差异的基础。
我们开展了一项在线调查，探究斯洛文尼亚公众对大脑、大脑研究以及基于科学的大脑健康建议的看法。共有2568名受访者填写了该调查，其中2450人完整完成了调查。根据他们自我报告的与大脑相关的教育程度，将他们分为两个亚组，即非专业亚组（n = 1012）和经过专题教育的组（n = 1438），即受过教育的亚组。在后者中，728名参与者报告拥有学士学位或更高学历。我们分析了该样本亚组对大脑、神经科学以及基于科学的大脑健康建议的看法，并将其与来自同一项调查的年龄和教育程度匹配的非专业亚组（n = 565）进行比较。
与非专业受访者相比，受过教育的个体对基于科学的建议表现出更高的认知度和依从性，特别是在遵循健康饮食、锻炼、保证休息、放松和维持社交联系、获取新知识和技能以及使用被认为可提高心理能力的补充剂的感知重要性方面（所有p < 0.005），但在获得充足睡眠、避免药物和酒精或受伤以及进行具有心理挑战性的活动或认知训练的感知重要性方面并非如此（所有p > 0.10）。受过教育的个体更频繁地报告遵循健康饮食、进行体育活动和社交、获取新知识和技能、进行心理挑战和认知训练以及使用补充剂（所有p < 0.005），但在获得充足睡眠、避免药物、酒精或受伤或保证休息和放松时间方面并非如此（所有p > 0.08）。将缺乏信息作为不采取健康行为的原因的非专业参与者比例高于受过教育的参与者（分别为32%和17%，p < 0.001）。在识别适合通过生活方式改变来治疗的疾病方面，受过教育的参与者表现优于非专业个体。
了解受过教育的个体与非专业个体在大脑健康认知方面的差异对于制定有效的公共卫生策略至关重要。我们的结果凸显了斯洛文尼亚人群中存在的巨大知识差距，以及开展有针对性的教育干预措施的必要性，这些干预措施应考虑到不同人群的知识程度差异，这可能会导致更好地坚持健康的生活方式。
