Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ws8qp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T00:58:14.467Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Stigmatic beliefs towards persons with dementia: comparing Israeli and Greek college students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2019

Perla Werner*
Affiliation:
Department of Community Mental Health, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Argyroula E. Kalaitzaki
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
Naama Spitzer
Affiliation:
Department of Gerontology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Lilach Raviv-Turgeman
Affiliation:
Department of Community Mental Health, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Sofia Koukouli
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
Chariklia Tziraki
Affiliation:
Research and Evaluation Department, Community Club of Elders, Jerusalem, Israel
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Perla Werner, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave, Mt. Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel. Phone: 054-3933066. Fax: 972-4-8288723. Email: werner@research.haifa.ac.il.

Abstract

Objectives:

Increasing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) awareness and decreasing stigmatic beliefs among the general public are core goals of National Dementia Strategy programs. College students are one of the most important targeted populations for achieving this goal. The aim of the current study was to examine AD public stigma among Israeli and Greek college students.

Design:

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among college students in Israel and Greece using vignette methodology.

Participants:

Seven hundred and fifty three college students – 213 Israeli and 540 Greek – participated in the study.

Measurements:

Three dimensions of stigma were assessed (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral) together with health beliefs regarding AD and socio-demographic characteristics.

Results:

Low levels of stigma were found in both samples, with Israeli students reporting statistically significant higher levels of stigmatic beliefs than Greek students in all the dimensions, except with willingness to help. Similar to stigma in the area of mental illness, the findings in both countries supported an attributional model for AD public stigma, i.e. positive correlations were found among cognitive attributions, negative emotions, and discriminatory behaviors in both countries. Differences between the countries emerged as a significant determinant of cognitive, as well as of negative emotions and willingness to help.

Conclusion:

Our findings might help researchers and clinicians to apply the knowledge gained in the area of mental illness to the development of effective ways of reducing AD public stigma. Moreover, they allowed us to frame the understanding of AD public stigma within a socio-cultural context.

Type
Original Research Article
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdullah, T. and Brown, T. L. (2011). Mental illness stigma and ethno-cultural beliefs, values, and norms: an integrative review. Clinical Psychology Review, 31, 934948.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aiken, L. S. and West, S. G. (1991). Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions. Newbury Park, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Alzheimer’s Europe (2018). European collaboration on dementia. Retrieved from https://www.alzheimer-europe.org/Research/European-Collaboration-on-DementiaGoogle Scholar
Basri, M., Subramaniam, P., Ghazali, S. E. and Singh, D. K. (2017). A review of knowledge and attitudes towards dementia among college students. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, 11, LEO1LEO7.Google Scholar
Brodsky, J., Bentur, N., Laron, M. and Ben-Israel, S. (2013). Addressing Alzheimer’s and Other Types of Dementia: Israeli National Strategy. Jerusalem, Israel: Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute and Ministry of Health.Google Scholar
Cahill, S., Werner, P. and Bobesky, A. (2015). A systematic review of the public’s knowledge and understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Related Diseases, 29, 255275. doi: 10.1097/WAD.0000000000000102Google ScholarPubMed
Celdran, M., Villar, F. and Triado, C. (2014). Thinking about my grandparent: how dementia influences adolescent grandchildren’s perceptions of their grandparents. Journal of Aging Studies, 29, 18. doi: 10.1016/j.aging.2013.12.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chow, S. et al. (2018). National dementia strategies: what should Canada learn?. Canadian Geriatrics Journal, 21, 173209.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corrigan, P., Markowitz, F. E., Watson, A., Rowan, D. and Kubiak, M. A. (2003). An attribution model of public discrimination towards persons with mental illness. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 44, 162179.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dawson, J. F. (2014). Moderation in management research: what, why, when and how. Journal of Business and Psychology, 29, 119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eccleston, C. E., Lea, E. J., McInerney, F., Crisp, E., Marlow, A. and Robinson, A. L. (2015). An investigation of nursing students’ knowledge of dementia: a questionnaire study. Nurse Education Today, 35, 800805.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fiest, K. M. et al. (2016). The prevalence and incidence of dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, 43, S51S82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gal, J. (2010). Is there an extended family of Mediterranean welfare states?. Journal of European Social Policy, 20, 283300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilmartin-Thomas, J. F. M., McNeil, J., Powell, A., Malone, D. T. and Larson, I. C. (2018). Qualitative evaluation of how a virtual dementia experience impacts medical and pharmacy students’ self-reported knowledge and attitudes towards people with dementia. Dementia, 116. doi: 10.1177/1471301218770270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goncalves Ferreira, R., Brandao, M. P. and Fonseca Cardoso, M. (2018). An update of the profile of older adults with dementia in Europe: findings from SHARE. Aging and Mental Health. doi: org/10.1080/13607863.2018.1531385.Google Scholar
Hampton, N. Z. and Xiao, F. (2007). Attitudes toward people with developmental disabilities in Chinese and American students: the role of cultural values, contact, and knowledges. Journal of Rehabilitation, 73, 2332.Google Scholar
Hanssen, I. and Tran, P. T. M. (2018). The influence of individualistic and collectivistic morality on dementia care choices. Nursing Ethics, doi: 10.1177/0969733018791342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrmann, L. K. et al. (2018). A systematic review of dementia-related stigma research: can we move the stigma dial?. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 26, 316331.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hillman, A. and Latimer, J. (2017). Cultural representations of dementia. PlosMedicine, 14, e1002274. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002274Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Isobe, A., Izumi, M. and Akifusa, S. (2018). Relationship between resilience and self-rated health in dental hygiene students and registered dental hygienists. Journal of Dental Education, 82, 13431350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kemmelmeier, M. (2016). Cultural differences in survey responding: issues and insights in the study of response biases. International Journal of Psychology, 51, 439444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimzey, M., Mastel-Smith, B. and Alfred, D. (2016). The impact of educational experiences on nursing students’ knowledge and attitudes toward people with Alzheimer’s disease: a mixed method study. Nurse Education Today, 46, 5763.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Konerding, U. et al. (2018). Investigating burden of informal caregivers in England, Finland and Greece: an analysis with the short form of the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers (BSFC-s). Aging and Mental Health, 22, 280287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamura, G. et al. (2008). Family carers’ experiences using support services in Europe: empirical evidence for the EUROFAMCARE study. The Gerontologist, 48, 752771.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lion, K.M. et al. (2019). Do people with dementia and mild cognitive impairments experience stigma? a cross-cultural investigation between Italy, Poland and the UK. Aging and Mental Health. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2019.1577799.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mannarini, S., Bolfo, M., Rossi, A. and Balottin, L. (2018). Etiological beliefs, treatments, stigmatizing attitudes toward schizophrenia. What do Italians and Israelis think?. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 22892897.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matsushita, M., Pai, M., Jhou, C., Koyama, A. and Ikeda, M. (2016). Cross-cultural study of caregiver burden for Alzheimer’s disease in Japan and Taiwan: result for Dementia Research in Kumamoto and Tainan (DeReKat). International Psychogeriatrics, 28, 11251132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, G. et al. (2017). Evaluation of ‘Dementia Friends’ program for undergraduate nursing students: innovative practice. Dementia, 16, 10751080.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mulvey, K. L., Hitti, A. and Killen, M. (2010). The development of stereotyping and exclusion. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 1, 597606. doi: 10.1002/wcs.66.Google ScholarPubMed
Nguyen, T. and Li, X. (2018). Understanding public-stigma and self-stigma in the context of dementia: a systematic review of the global literature. Dementia, doi: 10.1177/147130128800122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papadopoulos, C., Foster, J. and Caldwell, K. (2013). ‘Individualism-collectivism’as an explanatory device for mental illness stigma. Community Mental Health Journal, 49, 270280.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Papastylianou, D. and Lampridis, E. (2016). Social values priorities and orientation towards individualism and collectivism of Greek university students. Journal of Beliefs and Values, 37, 4054.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pouliasi, K. and Verkuyten, M. (2011). Self-evaluations, psychological well-being, and cultural context: the changing Greek society. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 42, 875890.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prince, M., Comas-Herrera, A., Knapp, M., Guerchet, M. and Karagiannidou, M. (2016). World Alzheimer Report 2016: Improving Healthcare for People Living With Dementia: Coverage, Quality and Costs Now and in the Future. London, UK: Alzheimer’s Disease International.Google Scholar
Rao, D., Angell, B., Lam, C. and Corrigan, P. (2008). Stigma in the workplace: employer attitudes about people with HIV in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Chicago. Social Science and Medicine, 67, 15411549.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sakka, P. (2012). Current status regarding dementia in Greece – Towards the implementation of the Greek Dementia Strategy. Athens, Greece: National Observatory for Dementia, Athens Association of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders.Google Scholar
Scerri, A. and Scerri, C. (2013). Nursing students’ knowledge and attitudes towards dementia – a questionnaire survey. Nurse Education Today, 33, 962968.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shin, J.H., Seo, H., Kim, K., Kim, K. and Lee, Y. (2015). Knowledge about dementia in South Korean nursing students: a cross-sectional survey. BMC Nursing, 14, 67. doi: 10.1186/s12912-015-0116-4CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shinan-Altman, S. and Werner, P. (2019). Illness representations of dementia: a scoping review. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 14, 179193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Triandis, H. C. and Gelfand, M. J. (1998). Converging measurement of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 118128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsolaki, M., Paraskevi, S., Degleris, N. and Karamavrou, S. (2009). Attitudes and perceptions regarding Alzheimer’s disease in Greece. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 24, 2126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werner, P. (2008). Discrimination towards a person with Alzheimer’s disease: examining the effects of being in a nursing home. Aging and Mental Health, 12, 786794.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werner, P. (2014). Stigma and Alzheimer’s disease: a systematic review of evidence, theory and methods. In Corrigan, P. (Ed.), The Stigma of Disease and Disability: Empirical Models and Implications for Change.Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Werner, P., Goldberg, S., Mandel, S. and Korczyn, A. (2013). Gender differences in lay persons’ beliefs and knowledge about Alzheimer’s disease: a national representative study of Israeli adults. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 56, 400404. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed