Search results for ‘Subject term:"retirement communities"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 1 of 1
Acceptance of dementia screening in continuous care retirement communities: a mailed survey
- Author:
- BOUSTANI Malaz
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 18(9), September 2003, pp.780-786.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
In a recent systematic review of the evidence for dementia screening to support recommendations from the US Preventive Services Task Force, the authors found no evidence regarding the interest or willingness of older adults to be screened, and insufficient evidence to provide an estimate of the potential harms of dementia screening. In an attempt to address the acceptability of dementia screening, we asked older adults living in two Continuous Care Retirement Communities (CCRC) if they would agree to routine screening for memory problems. Cross-sectional study using self-administered mailed survey questionnaires. There was a 64% survey response rate. Of these, 49% of participants stated they would agree to routine screening for memory problems. In comparison to people who would not agree to routine memory screening, those who accepted memory screening were more likely to accept depression screening, be male, use drug-administration assisted devices, and take more medications. Approximately half of the residents in this affluent residential community setting were not willing to be screened routinely for memory problems. This high refusal rate indicates that dementia screening may be associated with perceived harms. It is concluded that understanding of the decision-making process driving individual's beliefs and behaviors about dementia screening must be improved before implementing any broad-based screening initiatives for dementia or cognitive impairment.