Knowledge and Attitudes Towards People with Dementia among General Population in Yogyakarta

Dementia has become the leading cause of disability in elderly and contributed to the care burden in many countries, including Indonesia. The family and community play the key role in caring and supporting dementia patients. Their knowledge about dementia and attitudes toward dementia patients will impact the quality of care, but studies on this issue are scarce in Indonesia. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge and attitudes toward people with dementia among general population in Yogyakarta. This study was a cross sectional study by using questionnaire survey. Two hundred and ten people from across Yogyakarta attended a free seminar about dementia held in Alzheimer Indonesia in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and filled the questionnaires. The data were collected using the Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS), Bryan’s Dementia Attitudes Scale (BDAS), and also demographic questionnaire. The result of the study showed that the overall Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge scores of the participants were low compared with scores in a similar study (M = 17.17 out of 30 SD ±2,9, n = 210). Statistically, age was the only variable that showed a significant correlation with attitude, while knowledge about dementia did not. It is suggested to include dementia education in general to increase their knowledge about