Confidence in Dementia Management and Its Associated Factors among Primary Care Doctors in Malaysia

Abstract

Primary care doctors (PCDs) play an important role in the early diagnosis and management of dementia. This study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude, and confidence in managing dementia among PCDs in Malaysia. It also aimed to determine the factors associated with higher confidence levels in dementia management. An online-based cross-sectional study using Google FormsTM was performed. Sociodemographic and work-related data were collected, and Dementia Knowledge among General Practitioners & General Practitioners Attitude and Confidence Scale for Dementia questionnaires were utilized to assess the knowledge, attitude, and confidence scores. Multiple linear regression was conducted to determine the association between sociodemographic factors, knowledge, and attitude with the confidence in dementia management score. A total of 239 PCDs participated, with the majority being female (72.4%) and Malay (64.4%) and working in public primary care clinics (67.4%). The mean (±SD) score for confidence was 2.96 (±0.76). Among the factors associated with higher confidence levels in managing dementia were higher dementia knowledge scores, higher attitude towards dementia scores, prior dementia education, and the availability of nearby referral services for dementia. Malaysian PCDs’ confidence in dementia management was comparable to the PCDs of other countries. Strategies addressing these factors should be implemented to improve the confidence of PCDs in managing dementia.

Factors influencing the profit and choice of agribusiness for agricultural cooperatives in Thailand

“…Descriptive analysis was used to summarize a large amount of data, such as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. Multiple linear regression (Ahmed et al, 2022;Jeong et al, 2022;Sodri et al, 2022) was used to analyse the factors affecting the profit of ACs, and a multinomial logistic regression (Long & Freese, 2001) was used to analyse the factors affecting the choice of agribusiness by ACs. Equation ( 1) represents the multiple linear regression model used in this study (Bond, 2009;Suminah et al, 2022):…”

“…Descriptive analysis was used to summarize a large amount of data, such as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. Multiple linear regression (Ahmed et al, 2022; Jeong et al, 2022; Sodri et al, 2022) was used to analyse the factors affecting the profit of ACs, and a multinomial logistic regression (Long & Freese, 2001) was used to analyse the factors affecting the choice of agribusiness by ACs. Equation () represents the multiple linear regression model used in this study (Bond, 2009; Suminah et al, 2022): where is the profit of the i th AC, α 0 is the intercept, β and 𝛾 are the coefficients of the independent variables, X 1 is the number of members, X 2 is the number of staff members, X 3 is the operating capital, X 4 represents an AC having an office, X 5 represents the presence of a compilation business, X 6 represents the presence of a trading business and X 7 represents an AC that provides an average payback.…”

Dementia Knowledge Among Primary Healthcare Physicians in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“…Primary care physicians play an essential role in detecting and diagnosing dementia in the elderly. They are frequently the first point of contact with older people, so they need a high index of suspicion when encountering patients with memory complaints [ 6 ]. Limitations in healthcare providers' attitudes, knowledge, and communication between patients and their caregivers are significant contributors to missed and late detection and diagnosis [ 7 ].…”

“…A study from Malaysia utilizing GPACS-D reported a mean confidence score of 2.96 (±0.76) among the participants in managing dementia. The study's results revealed that several factors, including dementia knowledge, higher scores for attitudes toward dementia, and prior education on dementia, were significantly associated with higher levels of confidence in managing dementia [ 6 ].…”

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“…Following that, the proper pharmacological therapy can be initiated, and psychosocial interventions can be put in place, but numerous studies have found that the prevalence of dementia in primary care settings is low. 3 In the primary care context, dementia is grudgingly reported, inadequately recognized, underdiagnosed, and poorly managed. People with dementia have a fundamental human right to accessible, equitable primary care, even if it is accepted that managing dementia with its gradual cognitive, functional, physical, and psychiatric impairments is complex.…”