Identification of Demographic Variables Influencing Dementia Literacy and Risk Perception Through a Global Survey

Dementia literacy is important for risk mitigation and preventative strategies before disease onset. The aim of our study was to investigate dementia literacy and how demographic characteristics influence these perceptions in order to provide evidence for how dementia-centered public health initiati...

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Autores principales: Horst, Becky R., Furlano, Joyla A., Wong, Michelle Y. S., Ford, Sabrina D., Han, Brenna B., Nagamatsu, Lindsay S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8217864/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34169056
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.660600
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author Horst, Becky R.
Furlano, Joyla A.
Wong, Michelle Y. S.
Ford, Sabrina D.
Han, Brenna B.
Nagamatsu, Lindsay S.
author_facet Horst, Becky R.
Furlano, Joyla A.
Wong, Michelle Y. S.
Ford, Sabrina D.
Han, Brenna B.
Nagamatsu, Lindsay S.
author_sort Horst, Becky R.
collection PubMed
description Dementia literacy is important for risk mitigation and preventative strategies before disease onset. The aim of our study was to investigate dementia literacy and how demographic characteristics influence these perceptions in order to provide evidence for how dementia-centered public health initiatives should structure their focus. We conducted a globally administered online survey, through Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk). Survey items evaluated: (1) personal perception on the preventability of dementia, and (2) risk awareness of lifestyle factors. Differences in risk scoring between the 598 respondents were compared using Kruskal-Wallis testing factored by demographic categorizations. Most of the sample demonstrated understanding that lifestyle factors contribute some risk toward dementia, though these risk scores were generally low. Differences in risk scoring varied by demographic characteristics. Women, older adults, those with non-post-secondary attainment, below average income, and White background tended to report lower risk scores. Public health education and initiatives for dementia prevention should focus on lifestyle risk factors, in addition to considering the barriers related to the demographic factors identified that may prevent populations from accessing programs and information.
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spelling pubmed-82178642021-06-23 Identification of Demographic Variables Influencing Dementia Literacy and Risk Perception Through a Global Survey Horst, Becky R. Furlano, Joyla A. Wong, Michelle Y. S. Ford, Sabrina D. Han, Brenna B. Nagamatsu, Lindsay S. Front Public Health Public Health Dementia literacy is important for risk mitigation and preventative strategies before disease onset. The aim of our study was to investigate dementia literacy and how demographic characteristics influence these perceptions in order to provide evidence for how dementia-centered public health initiatives should structure their focus. We conducted a globally administered online survey, through Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk). Survey items evaluated: (1) personal perception on the preventability of dementia, and (2) risk awareness of lifestyle factors. Differences in risk scoring between the 598 respondents were compared using Kruskal-Wallis testing factored by demographic categorizations. Most of the sample demonstrated understanding that lifestyle factors contribute some risk toward dementia, though these risk scores were generally low. Differences in risk scoring varied by demographic characteristics. Women, older adults, those with non-post-secondary attainment, below average income, and White background tended to report lower risk scores. Public health education and initiatives for dementia prevention should focus on lifestyle risk factors, in addition to considering the barriers related to the demographic factors identified that may prevent populations from accessing programs and information. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-06-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8217864/ /pubmed/34169056 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.660600 Text en Copyright © 2021 Horst, Furlano, Wong, Ford, Han and Nagamatsu. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Horst, Becky R.
Furlano, Joyla A.
Wong, Michelle Y. S.
Ford, Sabrina D.
Han, Brenna B.
Nagamatsu, Lindsay S.
Identification of Demographic Variables Influencing Dementia Literacy and Risk Perception Through a Global Survey
title Identification of Demographic Variables Influencing Dementia Literacy and Risk Perception Through a Global Survey
title_full Identification of Demographic Variables Influencing Dementia Literacy and Risk Perception Through a Global Survey
title_fullStr Identification of Demographic Variables Influencing Dementia Literacy and Risk Perception Through a Global Survey
title_full_unstemmed Identification of Demographic Variables Influencing Dementia Literacy and Risk Perception Through a Global Survey
title_short Identification of Demographic Variables Influencing Dementia Literacy and Risk Perception Through a Global Survey
title_sort identification of demographic variables influencing dementia literacy and risk perception through a global survey
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8217864/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34169056
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.660600
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