Investigating dementia literacy among community-dwelling adults and older adults in Macau: A mixed methods study

Investigating dementia literacy among community-dwelling adults and older adults in Macau: A mixed methods study | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research article Investigating dementia literacy among community-dwelling adults and older adults in Macau: A mixed methods study Angela YM Leung, Cindy S. U Leong, Pak Leng Cheong, Alice S. M. Tsang, and 7 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.2.18630/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: As population ageing and dementia incidence continue to increase worldwide, health systems are urged to empower the public to address factors related to dementia. This study aims to assess Macau citizens’ knowledge of dementia, attitudes towards persons with dementia, and help-seeking behaviours and intention toward dementia. Methods: This is a mixed-methods study with both quantitative (cross-sectional survey) and qualitative components (focus group interviews). The Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) and Dementia Attitude Scale (DAS) were utilized in the quantitative data collection, whereas focus group interviews were employed to gather context-specific understanding of dementia in the local setting. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used to analyze quantitative data, while content analysis was used for qualitative data. Results: The overall level of knowledge on dementia was low (ADKS mean total score = 17.38, SD = 3.31), with the least amount of knowledge in the caregiving domain. Meanwhile, attitudes toward persons with dementia was generally positive (mean [SD] = 89.07 [11.99]). Many of the focus group participants were also uncertain regarding the availability of dementia services in the region. The general public was interested to obtain dementia information through social media. Conclusions: Efforts should be made to build up dementia literacy in Macau, especially in terms of caregiving. Information about dementia could be disseminated in social media and by healthcare professionals. Geriatrics & Gerontology caregivers Chinese dementia dementia literacy service needs Figures Figure 1 Full-text Due to technical limitations, full-text HTML conversion of this manuscript could not be completed. However, the manuscript can be downloaded and accessed as a PDF. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9250","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":245611,"identity":"d00ee60a-d781-4805-9218-d28c231b33e6","order_by":1,"name":"Angela YM Leung","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9836-1925","institution":"Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Nursing","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Angela","middleName":"YM","lastName":"Leung","suffix":""},{"id":245612,"identity":"166af960-2270-4a17-b3f9-7669d033d6da","order_by":2,"name":"Cindy S. 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needs","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.2.18630/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.2.18630/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eBackground: As population ageing and dementia incidence continue to increase worldwide, health systems are urged to empower the public to address factors related to dementia. This study aims to assess Macau citizens’ knowledge of dementia, attitudes towards persons with dementia, and help-seeking behaviours and intention toward dementia.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMethods: This is a mixed-methods study with both quantitative (cross-sectional survey) and qualitative components (focus group interviews). The Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) and Dementia Attitude Scale (DAS) were utilized in the quantitative data collection, whereas focus group interviews were employed to gather context-specific understanding of dementia in the local setting. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used to analyze quantitative data, while content analysis was used for qualitative data.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eResults: The overall level of knowledge on dementia was low (ADKS mean total score = 17.38, SD = 3.31), with the least amount of knowledge in the caregiving domain. Meanwhile, attitudes toward persons with dementia was generally positive (mean [SD] = 89.07 [11.99]). Many of the focus group participants were also uncertain regarding the availability of dementia services in the region. The general public was interested to obtain dementia information through social media.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eConclusions: Efforts should be made to build up dementia literacy in Macau, especially in terms of caregiving. Information about dementia could be disseminated in social media and by healthcare professionals.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Investigating dementia literacy among community-dwelling adults and older adults in Macau: A mixed methods study","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2019-12-12 17:35:42","doi":"10.21203/rs.2.18630/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"e3b2a8b7-2a82-4a29-9875-653c3f8a4dbf","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 12th, 2019","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":41853,"name":"Geriatrics \u0026 Gerontology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2020-06-23T16:20:23+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2019-12-12 17:35:42","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9250","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"identity":"rs-9250","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"cBFmMYwuxLRRLfASyISRj","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}