Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude Towards Alzheimer’s Dementia Among Middle Aged Adults in Selected Rural Community

Background: Alzheimer’s dementia is one of the common global health concerns among older population thatcan lead them towards disability and dependency [1]. However, the knowledge and attitudes towards Alzheimer’sdementia among middle aged adults remain unknown [2]. This study assessed the knowledge and attitude towardsAlzheimer’s dementia among middle aged adults in rural community.Objective: To assess the level of knowledge and attitude among middle aged adults towards Alzheimer’s dementiaand to associate the knowledge and attitude with selected demographic variables of middle-aged adults.Methods: A quantitative descriptive study was conducted in rural community people in Poonjeri, Chengalpattudistrict, Tamil Nadu. A total of 210 respondents ranging from 36 to 55 years were selected using a non-probabilitysystematic sampling method. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data in the study population to assessknowledge and attitude towards Alzheimer’s dementia among them. The data collected were properly screenedbefore they were analysed.Results: A total of 210 participants, the majority 58.5% of participants were in the age group between 18-39 andmost of them were female 71.1%. Study revealed that (62%) of middle-aged adults had moderately adequateknowledge (34%) had adequate knowledge and (2%) of middle-aged adults had inadequate knowledge regardingAlzheimer dementia and 81% had favourable attitude, whereas 15% of them had moderately favourable attitudeand 2% had unfavourable attitude regarding Alzheimer’s dementia. There was significant association between thedemographic characteristics of gender (p value=0.006), marital status (p value=0.0001), educational qualification(p value=0.012), occupation (p value=0.0084) and type of health information (p value=0.0001). Demographicvariables including gender (p value=0.0004), marital status (p value= 0.0061) and type of health informationresources (p value=0.00001) were significantly associated with the attitude regarding Alzheimer’s dementia.Conclusion: The majority of middle-aged adults in selected rural community have positive attitudes towardspatients with Alzheimer’s dementia, and a significant number have moderately adequate knowledge of the same.Continuous health education is suggested to improve knowledge of dementia in this population. Furthermore,studies are recommended to understand the perception in the general population.