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Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Education and attitudes towards dementia

BSMS > Research > Neuroscience > Centre for Dementia Studies > Research > Education and Attitudes towards dementia

Education and Attitudes towards dementia

The CDS is committed to improving attitudes and knowledge of dementia, locally, nationally and internationally.

Time for Dementia: Evaluation of a novel multi-professional longitudinal clerkship in dementia

Time for Dementia (TFD) is a programme to develop, deliver and evaluate an innovative educational initiative, a longitudinal clerkship (LC) in dementia.

The evaluation of TFD uses a mixed methods design, and involves students receiving the programme as well as those who are not, as well as the families involved in the programme. The evaluation will be completed by March 2018, and is seeking to answer the following questions;

  • What is the impact of the programme on student learning about dementia?
  • What are the experiences on the families and students who are involved?
  • How might the programme be improved?
  • What is the impact of taking part in the programme on the families involved?

Funded by: Health Education England South East (HEESE)
PI: Prof Sube Banerjee
Research Lead: Stephanie Daley
Status: In progress

BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Dementia Education in Sussex Survey

Educating people about dementia is an important step in reducing stigma towards dementia. The school education system may be one such way to provide all members of society this knowledge, and thus reduce stigma towards dementia. From the academic literature there is very little information about what secondary schools currently teach about dementia and its benefits to their students. 

This multi-staged study sets out to explore not only what is taught about dementia in local secondary schools but also to determine adolescents’ attitudes and knowledge about dementia.

CI: Dr Nicolas Farina
Status: Complete
Outputs:

  • Farina, N., Griffiths, A. W., Hughes, L. J., & Parveen, S. (2020). Measuring adolescent attitudes towards dementia: The revalidation and refinement of the A-ADS. Journal of Health Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105320953479. 
  • Farina, N., Hughes, L. J., Griffiths, A. W., & Parveen, S. (2020). Adolescents’ experiences and perceptions of dementia. Aging & mental health, 24(7), 1175-1181. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2019.1613343
  • Parveen, S., Griffiths, A. W., & Farina, N. (2020). The development and validation of the adolescent level of contact with dementia scale. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 35(10), 1134-1140. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.5335
  • Farina, N. (2020). What is taught about dementia in secondary schools? A survey of schools in Sussex, England (Innovative Practice). Dementia, 19(2), 479-487.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1471301217720016
BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Understanding, Beliefs and Treatment of Dementia In Pakistan 

According to an estimate, close to 46.8 million people are living with dementia worldwide, 58% of which are expected to reside in low and middle income countries (LMICs) and this figure is expected to rise to 68% by 2050. According to the World Bank, Pakistan is a lower middle income country in South East Asia and is currently the sixth most populous in the world and is expected to become the third most populous country by 2050. In 2015, 11.6 million Pakistanis are over 60 years of age and this figure will rise to 43.3 million by 2050. 

This study sets out to explore people’s attitudes, knowledge and understanding of dementia and its treatment in Pakistan.

The study is led by the Prof Zaidi, University of Southampton. 

visit the study website at the University of Southampton >

final report on treating dementia in Pakistan >

Funded by: Age UK, Age International, HelpAge International and Alzheimer’s Disease International
Local PI: Dr Nicolas Farina
Status: Complete
Outcomes:

  • Farina, N.  & Zaidi, A. (2019). Understanding, Beliefs and Treatment of Dementia in Pakistan: Findings from a novel research study in a low-income country. (Version 1.0). Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2638109 
  • Balouch, S., Zaidi, A., Farina, N., & Willis, R. (2020). Dementia awareness, beliefs and barriers among family caregivers in Pakistan. Dementia, 1471301220915066. https://doi.org/10.1177/1471301220915066 
  • Willis, R, Zaidi, A, Balouch, S, & Farina, N (2020). Experiences of people with dementia in Pakistan: Help-seeking, understanding, stigma, and religion. The Gerontologist, 60(1), 145-154. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gny143  
  • Farina, N, Zaidi, A, Willis, R, & Balouch, S (2019). Attitudes, knowledge and beliefs about dementia: Focus group discussions with Pakistani adults in Karachi and Lahore. Ageing & Society, 1-16 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X19000862 

Dementia awareness in adolescents: a pilot study

Stigma leads to social isolation, reduced quality of life and loss of independence for people with dementia (It is also a major barrier for seeking and accessing support, diagnosis, treatment and information. As such, reducing stigma towards people with dementia is a key policy priority and features in the World Health Organisation Global Action Plan. 

Negative attitudes towards dementia appears to form during adolescence, and there are a number of different dementia awareness initiatives that exist to try and tackle this.  Unfortunately, most of these initiatives are localised and have not been robustly evaluated. 

Aims
(1) To evaluate the short-medium term benefits of a dementia awareness session on adolescents’ attitudes and knowledge of dementia.
(2) To explore adolescents’ opinion and reactions to a dementia awareness session. 

Funded by: University of Sussex Research Development Fund
CI: Nicolas Farina
Status: Complete
Outputs:

  • Farina, N, Hughes, LJ, Jones, E, Parveen, S, Griffiths, AW, Galvin, K, & Banerjee, S. (2020). The effect of a dementia awareness class on changing dementia attitudes in adolescents. BMC geriatrics, 20, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-020-01589-6  
  • Farina, N, Hughes, LJ, Jones, E, Parveen, S, Griffiths, AW, Galvin, K, & Banerjee, S. (2020). Evaluation of a dementia awareness programme in UK schools: a qualitative study. Public health, 185, 348-355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2020.05.050