Contact: Dr Sarang Kim
Beliefs and attitudes toward dementia and their associations with dementia risk reduction behaviours
Dementia is a stigmatised condition and stigma prevents people from seeking help and early diagnosis and treatments. As a cure for dementia is not yet available, risk reduction is vital. A lack of knowledge on risk factors for dementia has been identified as a major barrier for behavioural and lifestyle change. Fear of developing dementia and education have also been identified as the main motivators for behaviour and lifestyle changes while fear and lack of understanding and knowledge are known to lead to stigma. However, it is unclear if stigma and attitudes toward dementia and dementia risk reduction play roles in adopting and maintaining healthy behaviours and lifestyle to reduce these dementia risks. There is also a lack of existing scales for the public stigma in dementia to better measure the prevalence and impact of stigma.
We, therefore, aim to develop a valid tool to measure dementia-related public stigma and explore associations between knowledge on dementia and dementia risk factors, dementia-related stigma, dementia fear, attitudes towards dementia risk reduction, and dementia risk reduction behaviours.
Objectives:
- Develop a valid tool to measure dementia-related public stigma.
- Investigate levels of dementia-related stigma among Australian adults.
- Explore associations between knowledge on dementia and dementia risk factors, dementia-related stigma, dementia fear, attitudes towards dementia risk reduction, and dementia risk reduction behaviours.
