Factors Related to Dementia Worry: Comparing Middle-Aged and Older Adults in South Korea

Abstract

As the number of individuals with dementia and exposure to dementia increases, worrying about dementia may threaten individuals' health and lifestyle. This cross-sectional study compared dementia worry and related factors between middle-aged and older adults in South Korea. A self-reported descriptive survey or face-to-face interview was conducted with 154 middle-aged adults (mean age = 55.8 years; 64.3% women) and 51 older adults (mean age = 71.3 years; 52.9% women) in South Korea. Older adults were more worried about dementia than middle-aged adults. For middle-aged adults, compared to their counterparts, being a female, having less than a high school education, and having lower family function was associated with more dementia worry. Contrastingly, for older adults, having more diseases, having lower family function, and being economically dependent was associated with more dementia worry. Health care providers should consider individuals' age and family function to develop a program that addresses dementia worry in Asian cultures. [Research in Gerontological Nursing, 12(6), 299-310.]

Fear about Alzheimer’s disease among Israeli and German laypersons, persons with Mild Neurocognitive Disorder and their relatives: a qualitative study

“…This is an important finding, especially since stigmatic beliefs were found to be a deterrent to initiating health behaviors, such as help-seeking (Herrmann et al, 2018;Phillipson et al, 2015). However, while reducing stigma has been mentioned anecdotally as a potential way to manage dementia fear (Bowen et al, 2018;Ryu and Park, 2019;Scerri and Scerri, 2017), this association still awaits empirical examination.…”

“…First published online 13 Oct 2020 fear of perceiving normal cognitive changes as indications of dementia. Since then, the terms "dementia fear" (Cantegreil-Kallen and Pin, 2011;Ebert et al, 2019;Norman et al, 2019;Page et al, 2019), "dementia worry" (Fresson et al, 2017;Kessler et al, 2012;Kinzer and Suhr, 2016;Molden and Maxfield, 2016;Phillips et al, 2017;Ryu and Park, 2019;Wong et al, 2019), and "concerns about dementia" (Tang et al, 2017;Werner et al, 2013) have been used interchangeably, and almost exclusively to examine concerns about developing AD. Kessler and colleagues (2012) were the first to provide a clearer conceptualization of the construct by defining dementia fear as a multidimensional concept composed of cognitive (i.e.…”

Factors Associated With Dementia Knowledge and Dementia Worry in the South Korean Elderly Population

“…20,23,26,27 A lower level of education was significantly associated with dementia worry. 23,27,28 Dementia worry was higher in persons living alone 29 and in those belonging to a majority group 30 than in those living with others or in minority populations, respectively. Exposure to AD as a family member, caregiver, or acquaintance was associated with dementia worry in several studies.…”

“…14,19,20 Studies on dementia worry found that dementia is a notably undesired diagnosis, second only to cancer. 21,22 Some studies on the relationship between dementia worry and participant age reported a positive association, 20,23 while another study reported a negative association. 19,24 Bowen et al 25 reported that dementia worry increased with age from 40 to 70 years and decreased after 70 years of age.…”

“…Bowen et al [ 25 ] reported that dementia worry increased with age from 40 to 70 years and decreased after 70 years of age. Several studies have reported that women have more dementia worry than men [ 20 , 23 , 26 , 27 ]. A lower level of education was significantly associated with dementia worry [ 23 , 27 , 28 ].…”