Knowledge and Attitude of Dementia among Nursing Students in Nepal

Abstract Background: Ageing is an important emerging demographic spectacle across the world. Therefore, the number of people with dementia is increasing every year as aging is an inevitable risk factor for dementia. An increasing number of people with dementia infers the necessity for a better quantity and quality of geriatric care services. Therefore, good knowledge and positive attitude regarding the dementia is expected in nursing students to deliver adequate quality care as they are the future primary health care professionals. Purpose: This study aims to investigate the knowledge and attitude of Nepalese nursing studentstowards dementia. Methods: A descriptive correlational research design was adopted for the study. The data was collected from Nepalese nursing students (n=177). Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) and Dementia Attitude Scale (DAS) were used to measure students’ knowledge and attitude of dementia and obtained data were analyzed by using descriptive methods. Results: The overall mean score of ADKS was found 19.64 (SD=3.363) out of 30, and the total mean score on dementia attitude of DAS was 93.82 (SD=10.09) out of 140, where a positive relationship was remained between the knowledge score and the attitude scores (r = 0.148, P=0.050). Moreover, the domain of Assessment and Diagnosis (2.94±0.851, out of 4) was found to have the highest correct answers (94.9%), whereas the life impact domain with mean score (1.56±0.714, out of 3) revealed the lowest correct responses (50.8%). Conclusion: This study concluded that the nursing students in Nepal demonstrate limited knowledge of dementia, while show positive attitude towards people with dementia. Moreover, findings of the study also demand the proper dementia care training and more clinical exposure for the nursing students to improve the knowledge ofdementia to be ready in their professional career.