Last month’s talkhealth survey came up with some very interesting results about people’s general understanding and views upon dementia – I certainly found it very interesting…
There appears to be a wide difference in people’s understanding of dementia ranging from 0.9% having no knowledge to 13.1% having good knowledge. The majority of respondents (98.1%) have heard of Alzheimer’s whilst the other three types of dementia were less well known – Vascular dementia (48.6%), Dementia with Lewy Bodies (19.6%) and Frontotemporal (18.1%).
Over half of respondents (77.6%) thought that over 65’s should be routinely screened for dementia. 67.3% think they would be able to spot the early signs of dementia in someone and over half of those responding were fearful of suffering from dementia themselves. The majority would go to the GP (73.8%) if they thought a close family member or friend were suffering with dementia, followed by the internet (51.4%).
A small minority feel that the state has a responsibility to pay full nursing fees for people suffering with dementia and a huge amount (77.6%) believe more money should be put into the research of dementia from the government.
Interestingly, 70.1% would you be in favour of voluntary euthanasia if they had dementia (on the basis that there was deemed by law a correct time to invoke such an action).
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Catriona
Hello - I am Catriona and part of the talkhealth team. I initially started my blog based on my experiences of having a mother with the diagnosis of vasular dementia. Any views expressed are my own.
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Really interesting stats. What’s interesting too is a story in the news today about the barriers to dementia diagnosis.
The news come from an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia which is saying that GPs are often seen as barriers to a diagnosis.
The report has concluded that some people have to wait more than a year for an appointment at a memory clinic!!!
It would appear it’s not just the general public who don’t have an understanding of dementia, but the medics appear to be in the same boat too!!
Clearly with an ageing population, more needs to be done all round.
on July 3, 2012 at 8:16 am Chris