Perceptions of community dementia friendliness: A cross-sectional study of people with dementia, family caregivers, service providers, and the general public in Taiwan

Hsin Yun Liu, Hsiu Li Huang, Yi Chen Chiu, Li Yu Tang, Jung Lung Hsu, Suh Mian Wu, Yi Hui Lin, Hsin Yi Lin, I. Ching Su, Yea Ing L. Shyu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Promoting dementia-friendly communities is an important strategy for improving quality of life for people with dementia and dementia-family caregivers. The process of building dementia-friendly communities should include all people living in the community. The objective of this study was to compare perceived dementia friendliness in the community among people with dementia, family caregivers, service providers, and the general public. In Taiwan, we surveyed 60 people with dementia, 140 family caregivers, and 200 members of the general public face to face, with 200 service providers surveyed by mail. Participants completed the Perceived Community Dementia Friendliness measure, consisting of seven subscales: care services, community members, community environment, community interactions, transportation, hospitals, and stores and organisations. This measure has acceptable convergent validity, construct validity, and internal consistency reliability for use in Taiwan. Differences in perceived dementia friendliness were examined by chi-square tests/analysis of variance. Among the seven subscales, hospitals were rated with good dementia friendliness by 70% of people with dementia (n = 42); however, care services were rated poor by 23.3% of people with dementia (n = 14). Hospitals were also rated with good dementia friendliness by 39.2% of family caregivers (n = 54). Care services were rated as having good dementia friendliness by 43.5% of service providers (n = 87) and 47% of the general public (n = 86). Furthermore, community interactions were rated as good by small percentages of family caregivers (11.4%, n = 16), service providers (22.2%, n = 44), and the general public (30.9%, n = 58). Family caregivers, service providers, and the general public rated hospitals with the highest mean dementia-friendliness score and community interactions with the lowest. Perceived community-dementia friendliness among participants with dementia differed from that of participants without. People with dementia prioritised improving care services, while people without dementia rated facilitating community interactions as more vital. These differences provide vital insights into understanding the policies and administration of dementia-friendly communities.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1578-1588
Number of pages11
JournalHealth and Social Care in the Community
Volume30
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 07 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

  • dementia-friendly community
  • family caregivers
  • general public
  • people with dementia
  • perspective
  • service providers

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