TY - JOUR
T1 - Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Dementia in Predominantly African American Congregants
AU - Epps, Fayron
AU - Foster, Kimberly
AU - Alexander, Karah
AU - Brewster, Glenna
AU - Chester, Mia
AU - Thornton, Jacquelyn
AU - Aycock, Dawn
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions and attitudes of African American congregants toward dementia before and after attending a dementia-focused workshop. Six churches in Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, hosted the workshops. Attendees (N = 171) participated in a free association exercise to evaluate their perceptions and attitudes toward dementia. Before and after the workshop, participants wrote words and phrases that occurred to them when they thought of dementia. Content analysis was used to identify themes. Before the workshop, participants’ responses tended to include negative language (e.g., fear, memory loss, sadness). After the workshop, participants expressed more positive words (e.g., support, hopefulness, caring). These findings suggest that education can change congregants’ perceptions about dementia and potentially reduce dementia-associated stigma. This change will allow families to feel comfortable both interacting with and seeking help from those in their faith communities.
AB - The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions and attitudes of African American congregants toward dementia before and after attending a dementia-focused workshop. Six churches in Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, hosted the workshops. Attendees (N = 171) participated in a free association exercise to evaluate their perceptions and attitudes toward dementia. Before and after the workshop, participants wrote words and phrases that occurred to them when they thought of dementia. Content analysis was used to identify themes. Before the workshop, participants’ responses tended to include negative language (e.g., fear, memory loss, sadness). After the workshop, participants expressed more positive words (e.g., support, hopefulness, caring). These findings suggest that education can change congregants’ perceptions about dementia and potentially reduce dementia-associated stigma. This change will allow families to feel comfortable both interacting with and seeking help from those in their faith communities.
KW - African Americans
KW - Alzheimer’s disease
KW - community
KW - education
KW - religion/religiosity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100041705&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85100041705&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0733464820987350
DO - 10.1177/0733464820987350
M3 - Article
C2 - 33487058
AN - SCOPUS:85100041705
SN - 0733-4648
VL - 40
SP - 1511
EP - 1516
JO - Journal of Applied Gerontology
JF - Journal of Applied Gerontology
IS - 11
ER -