Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 6, 2022; 10(28): 10097-10108
Published online Oct 6, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i28.10097
Dementia-related contact experience, attitudes, and the level of knowledge in medical vocational college students
Dong-Mei Liu, Ling Yan, Li Wang, Hui-Hui Lin, Xia-Yan Jiang
Dong-Mei Liu, Ling Yan, Li Wang, Hui-Hui Lin, Xia-Yan Jiang, School of Nursing, Anhui Medical College, Hefei 230062, Anhui Province, China
Author contributions: Liu DM, Yan L, and Wang L contributed to the conception and design of this study; Liu DM, Yan L, Wang L, Lin HH, and Jiang XY were involved in data collection and data entry; the manuscript was drafted by Liu DM and edited by Yan L and Wang L; the final version was reviewed and approved by all the authors.
Supported by the General Project of Humanities and Social Sciences Research in Universities of Anhui Province, No. 2020SK12925B008; and Professor Wang Jian Hua’s Research and Innovation Team, No. WJH202005t.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Anhui Medical College (Hefei, China) (approval No. 20201008). The study was based on the Declaration of Helsinki.
Informed consent statement: The informed consent was obtained from all eligible students prior to enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
Data sharing statement: The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dong-Mei Liu, PhD, School of Nursing, Anhui Medical College, No. 15 Feicui Road, Economic and Technological Development Zone, Hefei 230062, Anhui Province, China. liudongmeihf@126.com
Received: June 3, 2022
Peer-review started: June 3, 2022
First decision: June 16, 2022
Revised: June 27, 2022
Accepted: August 21, 2022
Article in press: August 21, 2022
Published online: October 6, 2022
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Dementia is a severe neurological and psychological disease that occurs in older adults worldwide. The knowledge and attitude of medical-vocational college students play an important role in supporting primary healthcare systems.

AIM

To investigate the level of knowledge, contact experience, and attitudes toward dementia among medical-vocational college students in China.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted, and 3-year medical and medical-related students from eight vocational colleges in Anhui province were recruited. The contact experience, attitudes, and knowledge level of students toward dementia were assessed using a questionnaire designed according to the Chinese version of the Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS).

RESULTS

A total of 2444 medical and medical-related students completed the survey, of whom 86.7% of respondents had interests and concerns regarding Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and 29.2% of respondents had experiences of contact with dementia patients. Overall attitudes toward dementia were negative. Only 35.4% of students were interested in participating in the caregiving of dementia patients. The mean score of students’ knowledge about AD as assessed by the ADKS was 21.16 (standard deviation, 3.43) out of 30.

CONCLUSION

Dementia-related knowledge of medical-vocational college students was at a medium level, and their overall attitudes toward dementia were negative.

Keywords: Medical-vocational college students, Dementia, Contact experience, Attitude, Knowledge, Caregiving

Core Tip: Chinese medical-vocational college students mainly work in primary healthcare systems following graduation and have significant opportunities to have contact with dementia patients and their family members. The present study aimed to examine the contact experience, attitudes, and knowledge level of medical-vocational college students toward dementia. Results showed that dementia-related knowledge was at a medium level among medical-vocational college students, and their willingness to provide care for Alzheimer’s disease was low. Moreover, students held negative attitudes toward dementia patients.