Globally, there is an increase in the older population, whose lives are affected by local cultural norms. In Eastern Mediterranean countries, dementia is conventionally hidden from view with few dedicated services or recognition for diagnosis. The aim of this systematic review is to explore the limited literature on dementia and cognitive impairment among older people in Eastern Mediterranean countries to present an evaluation of current practices and to consolidate knowledge for future planning. Thirty-three studies were identified for inclusion in the review, and four themes were apparent. Firstly, prevalence, comorbidity and gender: In Eastern Mediterranean countries, many studies identify that the prevalence of dementia is high. As is the case elsewhere, many older adults in Eastern Mediterranean countries have at least one coexisting long-term condition, and some experience low life-satisfaction. Secondly, culture: In Eastern Mediterranean countries, the older adult is highly respected, and placement outside of the family home is considered an abandonment of family duty. The term dementia carries stigma, and it is widely believed that dementia is caused by 'fate'. Thirdly, recognition and tools: There is a lack of verified assessment instruments to assess for dementia. Despite concerns about the cultural appropriateness of the Mini-Mental State Exam, particularly for people who have low literacy levels, and low literacy being the norm in Eastern Mediterranean countries, the Mini-Mental State Examination is the main assessment instrument. Translation and transition of non-Arabic assessment instruments and tools with psychometric properties presents a challenge for clinicians. Finally, workforce issues: health care workers lack knowledge about dementia, as dementia care is a relatively recent addition to the nursing and medical syllabi. While there were some inconsistencies in the papers published, many of the articles call for increasing educational programmes and health and social care policies to promote improved and practical gerontological nursing and medicine. Health care professionals need education about sociocultural, religious, and language needs to deliver improved culturally sensitive care.

This paper aims at reviewing literature on nurses' knowledge of delirium, dementia and depression (3Ds) which are rapidly increasing worldwide as the population ages, and to identify interventions that have shown effectiveness in improving nurses' knowledge level of these diseases. Nurses' knowledge of delirium, dementia and depression is essential to providing quality patient care. To access the literature, online databases including Medline (OVID), CINAHL (EBSCO), Nursing and Allied Health Source (ProQuest), and Health and Medicine (ProQuest), in addition to Google scholar search engine, were searched using key words "delirium", "dementia", "depression", "nurse * ", "knowledge" and their alternative words. Overall, 20 articles were found to meet the criteria for inclusion in the review. The study found that nurses' knowledge of the 3Ds was generally low, and they were not particularly able to differentiate between the three diseases. It is important that health care systems are adequately resourced to meet this growing challenge. Nurses should receive appropriate training about the 3Ds, and their knowledge be reinforced through continuing education.

Aim: This study aims at testing registered nurses' knowledge while working at mental health facilities and general care hospitals, through an exploratory non-experimental study using a random sample of nurse population across Saudi health facilities. Materials and Methods: The study participants were asked to complete a questionnaire consisting of four sections. Section 1 consisted of 21 questions, requesting participants to provide their background and demographic information, followed by a delirium-knowledge-assessment questionnaire (Section 2) consisting of 15 questions of which eight of them required true/false answers, and the remaining questions were multiple-choice. In Section 3, the research tool was a dementia-knowledge-assessment survey consisted of 27 questions that required true/false answers to a given statement about dementia. In Section 4, the depression-knowledge assessment survey provided multiple-choice answers. A total of 265 registered staff nurses (SNs) were included in the study, and were chosen from three Saudi healthcare centers, with an age range of 24-57 years. The participants consisted of 73% females and 27% males. Results: The knowledge of delirium, among the sampled nurses, was not high (M = 6.8906, SD = 2.13363). The employing health center influenced the delirium knowledge significantly, in addition to the job title of the participant, and their highest level of education, in addition to the fact of whether the participant has an immediate family member who has ever been diagnosed with any of the 3Ds. The averages significantly differed across the study sample with immediate family members who have been diagnosed with any of the 3Ds and those without (ANOVA, p = 0.019). Similar to the delirium knowledge, dementia knowledge, among the study participants, was not high (M = 69.2576, SD = 11.29327), and was significantly influenced by the health center, each participant's gender, nationality, job title, highest level of education, and the country where they had completed their highest level of education. The scores, obtained for de-S. Yaghmour et al. 149 mentia knowledge, were positively and significantly correlated to how individual participants rated their current dementia knowledge (ANOVA, p ˂ 0.001). Besides, the regression analysis, which showed how the participants rated their current dementia knowledge, confirmed the significance of explaining such a knowledge (ANOVA, p ˂ 0.001). Contrary to the delirium and dementia knowledge, the participants' depression knowledge was found to be high (ANOVA, SD = 1.97367), and was significantly influenced by the employing health center, the participant's gender, nationality, job title, highest level of education, and the country where they had completed their highest level of education. However, the average scores of the measurement of depression knowledge were found to be significantly different among participants from different mental health centers (ANOVA, p ˂ 0.001), their genders (ANOVA, p ˂ 0.001), and nationalities (ANOVA, p ˂ 0.001). ...

Background Well‐trained nurses are required to support dementia patients; however, the quality of the provided dementia nursing care can be impacted by nurses’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards people with dementia. Aim To obtain an overview of the current nursing practice towards people with dementia around the world. Design An integrated literature review was conducted based on Whittemore and Knafl's method. Results A total of 72 articles met the inclusion criteria. Three main themes were identified: (1) nurses’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards dementia; (2) nursing experience of caring for people with dementia in acute and community care settings; and (3) dementia nursing care across health regions. Conclusion Nurses play the role of facilitators in the efficient delivery of quality care for dementia patients. A variety of attitudes and perceptions towards people with dementia were found to be triggered by the severity of dementia, religion, ethnicity and gender. Implications for practice Healthcare organisations and educational settings need to coordinate and function together to improve nurses’ knowledge and encourage positive attitudes towards people with dementia.