Dementia stigma reduction (DESeRvE) through education and virtual contact in the general public: A multi-arm factorial randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Objective To examine the efficacy of the Dementia Stigma Reduction (DESeRvE) programme, aimed at reducing the general public dementia-related stigma utilising ‘education’ and ‘contact’ approaches. Methods A total of 1024 Australians aged between 40 and 87 years (M = 60.8, SD = 10.1) participated in a factorial randomised controlled trial. This trial examined four conditions: online education programme (ED), contact through simulated contact with people with dementia and carers (CT), education and contact (ED+CT) and active control. Cognitive, emotional and behavioural aspects of dementia-related stigma were measured with a modified Attribution Questionnaire, and dementia knowledge was measured with the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale at the baseline, immediately and 12 weeks after the completion of the intervention. Results All four groups improved (reduction in scores) significantly from baseline to week 12 in dementia-related stigma, and the effects were stronger for those with higher baseline stigma scores. Intervention groups also improved significantly from baseline in dementia knowledge. Especially, the ED (β = .85, SE = .07; p < .001) and ED+CT (β = .78, SE = .08; p < .001) groups at immediate follow-up and CT (β = .21, SE = .09; p < .05) and ED+CT (β = .32, SE = .09; p < .001) at 12-week follow-up showed significant effects. Conclusions Findings suggest that DESeRvE can be a valuable tool to enhance public’s dementia knowledge and reduce dementia-related stigma, especially for those with higher levels of stigma. Reduction in stigma, however, may take a longer time to achieve, whereas improvement in dementia knowledge is instant.

The Perceived Impact of the Namaste Care Family Program on Nursing Home Residents with Dementia, Staff, and Family Caregivers: A Qualitative Study

“…Connecting with people with dementia has been associated with changes in attitudes, 43 , 44 and a lower level of stigma. 45 , 46 However, there are also indications that more contact may not always be enough to change images. 47 The quality, duration, and nature of the contact may play an important role in changing stereotypes and reduce stigma.…”

Forward with Dementia: process evaluation of an Australian campaign to improve post-diagnostic support

“…While campaign activities were exclusively online due to COVID-19 restrictions, people living well with dementia and carers participated in the campaign as inspirational role models (including in a webinar panel discussion, providing news blogs and personal stories as well as strategies as to how they live well with dementia). This contact with people living well with dementia has been shown to be effective in dementia friendly campaigns [22] and reduce stigma [31]. The respected reputation and network of the campaign team enabled wide promotion through project partners.…”

Intervention Tournaments: An Overview of Concept, Design, and Implementation

“…Note that in-house-developed intervention tournaments are not limited to testing different iterations of the same underlying intervention and can also include interventions that are based on completely different underlying mechanisms, which are tested against each other (e.g., Hameiri et al, 2018; Van Assche et al, 2020; Yokum et al, 2018) and sometimes against their combination (Kim et al, 2021; Moore-Berg, Hameiri, & Bruneau, 2022; Rosler et al, 2021). For example, Yokum et al (2018) examined the efficacy of different variations of letters that remind Medicare recipients to get the flu vaccine.…”