‘Here, we describe them as forgetful, confused, and absent-minded’: dementia knowledge, stigma, and care plan among Vietnamese adults in rural area

Abstract

Objectives

This study aims to investigate dementia knowledge, dementia stigma, and self-rated importance of dementia plan, and their associated factors among Vietnamese adults in rural Vietnam.

Methods

A total of 325 participants completed the survey. The first section presented two vignettes and related open-ended questions. Participants described what terms local people in their community use, and what potential disease they thought the persons in the vignettes may have. Conventional content analysis was used to search for the key categories. The second section of the survey consisted of closed-ended questions from different measures. Two multivariate regression models were performed on dementia stigma and prioritizing dementia care plan.

Results

The study results show that participants held a moderate level of knowledge about dementia, yet they tended to use symptom- and stigma-connoted language to describe people with dementia. Their dementia stigma was reported at a middling level and was positively associated with age, number of older adults they have currently lived with, and anxiety about aging, and negatively associated with being married, knowing someone with dementia, and having greater Alzheimer’s disease knowledge. Most participants prioritized a future dementia care plan. The odds of this intention increased among those who have known someone with dementia, worried about getting dementia and caring for someone with dementia in the future, and had a higher level of Alzheimer’s disease knowledge.

Conclusion

The study results highlight the importance of dementia knowledge and exposure to people with dementia in reducing dementia stigma and increasing the chance for dementia care planning.

Keywords:

• Dementia
• knowledge
• stigma
• care planning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

IRB approval

The study was approved by the IRB of the Vietnam National University’s University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi, on May 19, 2022 (approval #1241/QD-XHNV).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Vietnam National University’s University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi (Grant # CS.2022.38).