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Objective. This work evaluated nursing students' knowledge and attitudes toward individuals with Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Methodology. This was a transversal, descriptive study carried out with a randomly selected group of nursing students (N = 122) from Bangalore, India, in 2013. The study used the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge scale (30 questions with true-false options) and the Attitude toward Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias scale (20 questions scored with seven Likert-type options; the higher the score, the better the attitude). Results. The findings revealed that 56% of the questions were answered correctly and the average attitude score was 95 ± 1.5. A negative correlation was observed between age and knowledge of dementia (r = -0.323; p < 0.01). Conclusion. The participants have inadequate knowledge of dementia. However, they have positive attitudes towards patients with dementia, giving way to improving their knowledge related to this disease. Thereby, there is urgent need to enhance the undergraduate study plan with respect to the content of this theme and strengthen the attitudes of comprehensive care to individuals with dementia.Key words: Alzheimer disease; attitude; cross-sectional studies; dementia; India; students, nursing. Conocimientos y actitudes de los estudiantes de enfermería hacia la demencia: Una perspectiva hindúObjetivo. Evaluar en los estudiantes de enfermería el conocimiento y las actitudes hacia las personas con enfermedad de Alzheimer y demencia. Metodología. Estudio de descriptivo de tipo transversal llevado a cabo en un grupo seleccionado en forma aleatoria de estudiantes de enfermería (N=122) de Bangalore, India, en 2013. Se utilizaron las escalas: Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale (30 preguntas con opciones verdadero/falso) y The Attitude toward Alzheimer's disease and Related Dementias Scale (20 preguntas calificadas con 7 opciones tipo Likert, a mayor puntaje mejor es la actitud). Resultados. Los hallazgos revelaron que el 56% de las preguntas fueron contestadas correctamente y el 520 • Invest Educ Enferm. 2015;33(3) Vijayalakshmi Poreddi • Brian D Carpenter • Sailaxmi Gandhi • Rama Chandra • Suresh BadaMath promedio puntaje de actitud fue 95±1.5 Se Observó una correlación negativa entre la edad y el conocimiento sobre la demencia (r=-0.323; p<0.01). Conclusion. Los participantes tienen un inadecuado conocimiento sobre la demencia. Sin embargo, que poseen actitudes alentadoras hacia los pacientes con demencia dando espacio a mejorar sus conocimientos relacionados con esta enfermedad. Por lo tanto, hay una necesidad urgente de fortalecer el plan de estudios de pregrado con respecto al contenido de este tema y fortalecer las actitudes el cuidado integral a las personas con demencia.Palabras clave: enfermedad de Alzheimer; actitud; estudios transversales; demencia; India; estudiantes de enfermería. Conhecimentos e atitudes dos estudantes de enfermagem para a demência: Uma perspectiva indianaObjetivo. Avaliar nos estudantes de enfermagem o conhecimento e as ati...

Background:Globally, people with mental illness frequently encounter stigma, prejudice, and discrimination by public and health care professionals. Research related to medical students’ attitudes toward people with mental illness is limited from India.Aim:The aim was to assess and compare the attitudes toward people with mental illness among medical students’.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional descriptive study design was carried out among medical students, who were exposed (n = 115) and not exposed (n = 61) to psychiatry training using self-reporting questionnaire.Results:Our findings showed improvement in students’ attitudes after exposure to psychiatry in benevolent (t = 2.510, P < 0.013) and stigmatization (t = 2.656, P < 0.009) domains. Further, gender, residence, and contact with mental illness were the factors that found to be influencing students’ attitudes toward mental illness.Conclusion:The findings of the present study suggest that psychiatric education proved to be effective in changing the attitudes of medical students toward mental illness to a certain extent. However, there is an urgent need to review the current curriculum to prepare undergraduate medical students to provide holistic care to the people with mental health problems.

Globally, there is an acute shortage of organs for transplantation. Health professionals play an important role in raising awareness, motivating, and subsequently increasing the organ donation rates. Research related to nursing students' attitudes toward organ donation is limited from India. We aimed to assess undergraduate nursing students' knowledge, attitudes, and willingness to donate organs. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out among conveniently selected undergraduate nursing students (n = 271) using self-reported questionnaires. All the participants were aware of organ donation. A majority (n = 251, 94%) of them were unaware of organ donation law. The mean score indicates that 66.7% of the participants had adequate level of knowledge [mean ± standard deviation (SD), 7.34 ± 1.61] and 72.3% hold positive attitudes (mean ± SD, 83.9 ± 1.01) toward organ donation. Statistically significant correlation (r = 0.265, P <0.001) was observed between knowledge and attitudes of the participants toward organ donation. The findings suggest the need for revising the nursing curricula to prepare the future nurses' competent in encountering the issues related to organ donation and fostering.

This study revealed good knowledge, positive attitudes and good practices among nurses about using physical restraints in mental health services. However there is need to improve even more nurses practice through continuing education programs on this topic.