Exploring public perceptions and understanding of dementia: Analysing narratives from the Mass Observation Project

Abstract

Over 850,000 people living in the United Kingdom have been diagnosed with dementia, yet knowledge about this condition amongst the general population remains relatively poor. Many studies have evaluated the level of public knowledge and understanding about dementia from a research and professional service perspective, however none have considered this condition from the perspective of the wider public. In this preliminary overview, we analyse and describe high level narratives collected from 143 respondents to a dementia Directive commissioned to the Mass Observation Project. These narratives present a perspective on the public knowledge and understanding about dementia not previously considered, where respondents have written openly about their own experiences, and reflected on their perception of the wider public's knowledge and understanding about dementia. This unique perspective importantly enhances our knowledge about the public's understanding and awareness of dementia, and informs the main areas of public concern found in the analysis: care responsibilities, impact on relationships, and fears about developing dementia.

Home-Dwelling Older Adults’ Day-to-Day Community Interactions: A Qualitative Study

“…It is also necessary to provide those non-healthcare workers with the tools to identify older adults’ abnormal behaviours. They are undoubtedly among the first to encounter older adults presenting with abnormal behaviours; they could be trained to detect and orient their fellow community members who are unsettled and unable to react to their behaviour appropriately alone [ 32 , 33 ]. In this project’s second phase, the results will be used to facilitate focus groups with the non-healthcare workers identified to collect their opinions and information needs concerning the disorders they might encounter among older adults and the actions they could take.…”

Neighbourhood nursing : connection, place and meaning in the everyday experience of dementia

“…This is in line with earlier research in which Haapala, Carr and Biggs (2019) and Phillipson et al (2018) argued that awareness of dementia has to start in local communities where people live and that more interactions with people living with dementia is necessary. Olsen and colleagues argued that the media has an important role to play in terms of the type of messengers that are communicated through newspapers and television; all too often people living with dementia are not presented in the mass media (Olsen, Taylor, Whiteley, Ellerton, Kingston, & Bailey, 2019). As our participants living with dementia expressed, they are not treated as active citizens with their own resources in the neighbourhood.…”

Dementia and stigma

“…V sistematični pregled literature smo vključili 35 znanstvenih prispevkov, ki se nanašajo na področje Evrope (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20), Azije (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29), Avstralije (29)(30)(31), Severne Amerike (32)(33)(34)(35) in Južne Amerike (36)(37)(38). Skupni povprečni delež žensk v obravnavanih študijah je 57 % .…”