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Knowledge, Attitude and Preventive Practice on Dementia Care among Primary Health Professionals in Macao

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Abstract

The Macao Dementia Policy was recognized by Alzheimer Disease International as the 27th globally and one of the highest stage 5 to develop dementia friendly community and primary health professionals are in a pivotal position to enhance community-based dementia prevention and care quality. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitude and preventive practice on dementia care among primary health professionals in Macao. A specially designed 30-item questionnaire was developed and validated for the study. The Content Validity Index (CVI) and Cronbach’s α of the questionnaire were 0.973 and 0.808. The questionnaires were distributed to all 375 primary health professionals from 8 Health Centers throughout Macao and 234 valid questionnaires (62.4%) were returned. The score for dementia care knowledge was 87.02±14.01; attitude was 69.52±5.83; preventive practice was 77.88±13.18, of which doctors (79.89±13.77) was significantly higher (t=2.29, p=0.023) than nurses (75.91±12.33). There were positive relationships between preventive practice and attitude (r=0.163, p=0.014), and age (r=0.212, p=0.002), and a negative relationship between knowledge and age (r=−0.139, p=0.040). These findings have significant implications that most primary health professionals in Macao had sufficient knowledge, a positive attitude and appropriate preventive practice on dementia care. However, enhanced dementia education to improve knowledge and preventive practice was a strong agenda for the training for senior staff and nurses.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the primary health professionals who participated in this survey.

Funding

Funding: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and publication of this article: The research was funded by the Macao Health Bureau, the Government of Macao Special Administrative Region, China

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Bureau, the Government of Macao Special Administrative Region, Macao, China

    I. L. Lo, W. Zeng, Chin Ion Lei, C. Lam & H. L. Lou

  2. Macao Health Bureau, Macao, China

    Chin Ion Lei

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  1. I. L. Lo
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  2. W. Zeng
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  3. Chin Ion Lei
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  5. H. L. Lou
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Correspondence to Chin Ion Lei.

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Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of this article.

Ethical standards: Ethical approval was obtained through the Medical Ethical Committee of the Centro Hospitalar Conde de São Januário, the Government of Macao Special Administrative Region, China.

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Lo, I.L., Zeng, W., Lei, C.I. et al. Knowledge, Attitude and Preventive Practice on Dementia Care among Primary Health Professionals in Macao. J Prev Alzheimers Dis 7, 83–86 (2020). https://doi.org/10.14283/jpad.2020.10

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