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©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Jun 22, 2016; 6(2): 233-238
Published online Jun 22, 2016. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v6.i2.233
Published online Jun 22, 2016. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v6.i2.233
Association between recognizing dementia as a mental illness and dementia knowledge among elderly Chinese Americans
Xin Zheng, College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA 91766, United States
Benjamin K P Woo, Olive View - UCLA Medical Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 91342, United States
Author contributions: Zheng X and Woo BKP provided substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; Zheng X drafted the article and revised it critically for important intellectual content; Woo BKP gave final approval of the version of the article to be published; Zheng X agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the University of California, Los Angeles’s Education and Research Institute.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Xin Zheng, MS, College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, Western University of Health Sciences, 309 E. Second St., Pomona, CA 91766, United States. lydiaxzheng@gmail.com
Telephone: +1-818-3643830 Fax: +1-818-3643554
Received: February 29, 2016
Peer-review started: March 4, 2016
First decision: April 15, 2016
Revised: May 2, 2016
Accepted: May 17, 2016
Article in press: May 27, 2016
Published online: June 22, 2016
Peer-review started: March 4, 2016
First decision: April 15, 2016
Revised: May 2, 2016
Accepted: May 17, 2016
Article in press: May 27, 2016
Published online: June 22, 2016
Core Tip
Core tip: This study reveals that only approximately 1 out of every 4 elderly Chinese Americans recognized dementia as a mental illness. Our study however demonstrates that when dementia was being perceived as a mental illness, such perception was associated with a higher level of baseline dementia understanding. Further research is necessary to identify any causative relationship between viewing dementia as a mental illness and improved dementia knowledge, with the ultimate goal of improving dementia management outcomes in elderly Chinese American ethnic population.