Validation of Croatian Version of Dementia Attitudes Scale (DAS)

Abstract

Dementia significantly impairs cognitive and behavioral functioning of the person, and in recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of patients suffering from dementia. In Croatia, such patients are often placed in retirement homes, non-specialized institutions for the elderly and infirm, often without adequately educated employees. Attitudes toward dementia seem to be an important factor for adequate care of people with dementia, but there was no previous research on this topic in Croatia. The Dementia Attitudes Scale (DAS) developed by O'Connor and McFadden (2010), is a useful tool in research of attitudes toward dementia. The aim of the study was to translate the scale into the Croatian language and validate it on a Croatian sample. Participants were employees and retirement home users, other health care workers and the general population. Validation conducted on samples that were in everyday contact with dementia patients showed consistent factors (social comfort and dementia knowledge) as in the original scale, so the conclusion was that the questionnaire could be used in that population. Still, overall results that included the general sample showed different factors when compared to the original scale, since the Croatian version did not show standard factors, but rather positive and negative attitudes factors. Results could be seen as highly suggestive and emphasize the need to distinguish and separate research on attitudes toward dementia in different populations.

Einstellungen gegenüber Menschen mit Demenz

“…In einem mehrstufigen Verfahren mittels Interviews sowie explorativer und konfirmatorischer Faktorenanalysen ergab sich eine Zweifaktorenlösung mit den übergeordneten Faktoren "cognitive domain", welche die kognitive Komponente der Einstellung erfasst, und der "affective and behavioral domain", welche die affektiv-konative Komponente der Einstellung abbildet [11]. Dass die DAS immer wichtiger wird, zeigen verschiedene Studien, die sich auf dieses Instrument gestützt [12], es in neuen Ländern verwendet [13] oder in andere Sprachen übersetzt haben [14].…”

Untitled

“…Moreover, health care staff in the UK are monitored by the Approaches to Dementia Questionnaire. As mentioned before, dementia was identified as one of four major gerontological-public health problems in the elderly in Croatia (Perko et al, 2005) but there is still no structured research and educational plan for health care employees, family members and the general population. There has been a significant change when it comes to accommodating patients suffering from dementia in recent years.…”

“…There has been a significant change when it comes to accommodating patients suffering from dementia in recent years. Until recently, such patients were mostly accommodated in psychiatric institutions together with other psychiatric patients, and some institutions had up to 40% of patients suffering from one form of dementia (Gustin et al, 2015;Perko et al, 2005). Nowadays, patients are mostly placed in homes for the elderly and infirm, which sometimes have more than 20% of users with diagnosed dementia, so Gustin et al (2015) emphasize the need for highly specialized institutions for patients suffering from dementia, as well as additionally educated employees.…”

“…More than ten years ago, dementia was identified as one of four gerontological public health problems in the elderly in Croatia (Perko, Tomek-Roksandić, Mihok, Puljak, Radašević, Tomić & Čulig, 2005), mostly because of the significant increase in the number of patients suffering from the disease (Gilić, Perinčić & Kovač, 2008). Because of demographic changes, this trend can be seen in most European countries, for example, in Germany (Doblhammer, Fink & Fritze, 2015;Ziegler & Doblhammer, 2009), but also in China and sub-Saharan African regions (Wortmann, 2014), as well as Australia (McCabe, You & Tatangelo, 2016) and South Korea (Shin, Seo, Kim, Kim & Lee, 2015).…”

“…Often, family members are unable to care for their relatives even in the first stages of dementia, thus forcing relatively young patients in the first stage of the disease to be placed in homes for the elderly and infirm. As relations between patients and employees have a crucial role in the patients well-being (Bowers, Esmond & Jacobson, 2000), authors often emphasize the importance of adequately educated employees (Gustin, Žuvela, Jerinić, Roso & Kunić, 2015;Nakahira, Moyle, Creedy & Hitomi, 2009;Perko et al, 2005). At the same time, organizational and practical problems shouldn't be neglected, as it was found that sometimes these factors can cause aggressive behavior in patients (Nakahira et al, 2009).…”