Survey on knowledge status of Alzheimer′s disease and influencing factors among community medical and nursing staff in Beijing / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the knowledge status of Alzheimer′s disease (AD) and its influencing factors among community medical and nursing staff in Beijing.Methods:By using a convenient sampling method, 5 community health service centers in Beijing (3 in the urban area and 2 in the suburbs) were selected for survey sites from September 2016 to December 2017. A face-to-face questionnaire survey on the awareness and knowledge of AD was conducted among 270 health care staff of above 5 centers. The Alzheimer′s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS, 7 dimensions) and the self-designed questionnaire (influencing factors) were used for survey.Results:The mean score of 270 participants was 19.6±2.7, and the passing rate (≥18) was 80.7% (218/270). The scores of the seven dimensions ranged from low to high were care 45.4±22.7, symptoms 57.0±22.3, risk factors 60.7±19.4, life effects of AD 65.6±24.9, assessment and diagnosis 66.9±18.3, duration of disease 77.9±20.6, treatment and management 82.5±18.2. Multivariate analysis showed that the experience of caring for patients with dementia (β=1.072, P=0.03) was the influencing factor of the total ADKS scores. For single dimension of AKDS, the experience of caring for patients with dementia (β=0.348, P=0.01) and participating in dementia training (β=0.233, P=0.03) were the influencing factors of the dimension "life effects of AD"; the experience of caring for patients with dementia (β=0.459, P=0.01) and the visiting frequency of patients with dementia (β=0.154, P=0.02) were the influencing factors of the dimension "symptoms". Finally, the working years (β=0.124, P<0.01) of the staffs was the influencing factor of the dimension "duration of disease". Conclusion:In Beijing community health service centers, the knowledge of AD among medical and nursing staff is not sufficient, which are associated with the lack of the experience of taking care for dementia patients, not participating in dementia training, low visiting frequency of dementia patients and the less working years. Targeted training should be taken to improve their knowledge of AD.