Understanding the factors influencing physiotherapists’ attitudes towards working with people living with dementia

Abstract

This is a repository copy of Understanding the factors influencing physiotherapists' attitudes towards working with people living with dementia.

Dementia knowledge among physiotherapists in Nigeria

“…This study's findings show limited level of knowledge of dementia (an average of 64.4% correct answers across the entire sample) among the sample population. This is notably much lower than other studies assessing dementia knowledge among physiotherapists in Canada, and Australia as well as other healthcare professionals in China and in India (Biswas et al, 2017;Hunter & Divine, 2020;Maggs, Kay & Ovaskainen, 2019;Wang et al, 2018). Descriptive analysis of the DKAT2 items showed the areas in dementia that are generally wellknown, and areas hardly known and easily confused about.…”

“…Studies on the knowledge of dementia among physiotherapists have been carried out in countries like Australia, The United Kingdom, Ireland, The United States of America and Canada. Hunter and Divine (2020) in a Canadian survey highlighted that out of 36% of physiotherapists who had received a prior training on dementia either as part of their physiotherapy degree program or other outside courses, 40% of them felt they needed additional training in order to effectively treat people with dementia ( Hunter & Divine, 2020 ). Similar findings were reported in studies ( Lorio, Gore, Warthen, Housley, & Burgess, 2017 ; Miles, Staples & Lee, 2019 ) carried out in the United States which assessed the knowledge and attitude of physiotherapists towards dementia care.…”

“…A qualitative study among physiotherapists in Ireland reported having minimal dementia education during their undergraduate or postgraduate training which created a barrier in achieving optimal physiotherapy care ( Foley, Sheehan, Jennings, & O’Sullivan, 2020 ). In the Canadian survey, the attitude of physiotherapists in working with people with dementia was associated with their level of knowledge ( Hunter & Divine, 2020 ). Physiotherapists with higher educational qualification and knowledge had more positive attitude ( Hunter & Divine, 2020 ).…”

“…In the Canadian survey, the attitude of physiotherapists in working with people with dementia was associated with their level of knowledge ( Hunter & Divine, 2020 ). Physiotherapists with higher educational qualification and knowledge had more positive attitude ( Hunter & Divine, 2020 ). Studies ( Hunter & Divine, 2020 ; Lorio et al, 2017 ; Miles et al, 2019 ) on level of knowledge of dementia among physiotherapists reported a low confidence level (7.8%) among physiotherapists.…”

Influence of dementia literacy and caregiving appraisal on the psychological wellbeing of informal caregivers of people with dementia: A cross-sectional study

“…In this study, knowledge of dementia was positively associated with attitude toward dementia and psychological wellbeing, and it was identified to be a direct predictor of attitude toward dementia. Even though no caregiver evidence has been identified from previous research, this finding can be partially explained by a study conducted among physiotherapists, which indicates that the more they were educated about dementia knowledge, the more positive attitudes they would have ( 31 ). However, a different opinion was identified by a study in Ireland, which found that greater knowledge of dementia does not ensure a positive attitude toward dementia among the general public ( 32 ).…”