Knowledge, Attitudes and Confidence in Providing Dementia Care to Older Adults Among Nurses Practicing in Hanoi, Vietnam: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background

Nurses' competencies are crucial in providing effective dementia care in healthcare settings for older people. Understanding nurses' current knowledge, attitudes and confidence in this area is essential for developing education programmes for healthcare professionals to improve patient care. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and confidence related to providing dementia care among nurses practicing in geriatric hospital wards and nursing homes in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Methods

A total of 269 out of 313 (response rate was 86%) full-time nurses working at six geriatric wards in hospitals and nursing homes in Hanoi were surveyed using three self-administered questionnaires: the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale (DKAS), Dementia Attitude Scale (DAS) and the Confidence in Dementia Scale (CODE). Multiple regression models were constructed to identify factors associated with dementia care knowledge, attitudes and confidence.

Results

The overall mean scores of nurse's knowledge, attitudes and confidence were 28.1 ± 8.0, 102.1 ± 13.4 and 28.3 ± 6.4, respectively. A positive correlation was reported between the knowledge and attitude scores and between the attitudes and confidence scores. Greater seniority (β: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.03–0.56) and having learned information through colleagues or experts (β: 3.02; 95% CI: 0.88–5.16) were associated with better dementia knowledge. A higher level of dementia training desirability was associated with increased knowledge (β: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.28–1.20) and favourable attitudes (β: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.15–1.74), whereas frequent exposure to dementia cases was associated with higher confidence (β: 3.56; 95% CI: 1.39–5.73) and more favourable attitudes (β: 3.96; 95% CI: 0.27–7.66).

Conclusion

Our study highlights deficits in knowledge, low levels of social comfort in nurses' attitudes towards people with dementia and a lack of confidence in providing effective care among nurses practicing in healthcare settings for older adults in Hanoi, Vietnam. With the ageing of the population and with increasing numbers of persons living with dementia, our findings suggest the importance of improving the training of nurses to specifically address these deficits.

Implications for Practice

Multidisciplinary consultation meetings need to be encouraged in the healthcare workplace setting as well as ensuring the presence of qualified counsellors for care teams working with older adults in non-hospital settings.

Training about non-cognitive symptoms of dementia and demonstrating effective verbal and non-verbal communication skills is critical and should be integrated into nurse's educational training.