alzheimers-2019-accepted-abstracts

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alliedacademies
13th International Conference on
Alzheimers Disease and Dementia
November 25-26, 2019 | Frankfurt, Germany
Journal of Psychology and Cognition | Volume: 04
J Psychol Cognition, Volume: 04
Dementia knowledge among healthcare professionals: A descriptive study
Fahad Al-Manee
Kuwait University, Kuwait
Introduction: Dementia is a health condition results from
neurodegenerative processes and occurs in later stages of
life. The quality of life for people with dementia is affected
by the quality of care provided by healthcare professionals.
The knowledge of dementia among healthcare
professionals is important to help them engage in clear
decision making and providing an appropriate ongoing
treatment plan about dementia. Level of knowledge on
dementia in Kuwait is Limited. This research investigated
the level of knowledge of health care professionals about
dementia.
Methods : This descriptive study included various health
care professionals (physicians, nurses, occupational
therapists, physical therapists, and pharmacists) from
Seven governmental hospitals. Dementia Knowledge
Assessment Scale (DKAS) was used to measure
participants’ knowledge. It includes four subscales: causes
and characteristics, communication and behavior, care
consideration, and risks and health promotion. In addition,
demographic data sheet covering age, gender, education,
level of experience were included. Two Questions were
added to the demographic sheet: Data was analyzed
using SPSS version 25 and descriptive statistics was used
for analyzing mean and SD. Kuskal-Wallis ANOVA test was
used to compare between more than two independent
groups.
Results : 1005 subjects from different professions
participated in this study: 120 physicians, 657 nurses,
107 physical therapists, 31 occupational therapists, and
90 pharmacists. The final score of DKAS scale showed a
low level of dementia knowledge among the healthcare
professionals (18.98 / 50). There was a significant
difference between all groups in DKAS final score and four
subscales (P<0.01). The descriptive statistics showed that
OTs have better knowledge about dementia than other
professions. The two additional questions showed that
89.6% of the participants did not attended course/s about
dementia and 75% of the participants would like to attend
a presentation or workshop about dementia.
Discussion: This study showed that there is a low
level of knowledge about dementia among healthcare
professionals, which is due to the low number of people
who attended training courses. Occupational therapists,
nurses, and physicians have more knowledge than other
professions. Yet, they still do not have sufficient knowledge
about dementia. Themajority of the participants expressed
their interest to attend a presentation or workshop about
dementia. This poor knowledge among health care
professionals requires immediate attention. This study
added value to the Middle Eastern research of dementia.
It highlights that further dementia training and education
is still needed.
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