Within Stride we ran a large survey in Indonesia. We randomly sampled 2,110 older adults within Jakarta and North Sumatra. We also surveyed a family member, friend or someone that knew the older adult well. As a result, we have data from nearly 4,220 adults living in Indonesia related to dementia knowledge and attitudes, the largest of its kind. Here we will report on four pertinent items.
An overwhelming majority of participants (n=3,780, 89.6%) agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that “we need to be more tolerant towards people with dementia in our society”, with less than 5% disagreeing to the statement (n=194).
Just over half of participants felt that people with dementia can enjoy life (n=2,305, 54.6% agree or strongly agree). Slightly more concerningly, just over half of participants (n= 2,115; 50.1%) felt that people with dementia could not make a positive contribution to society.
A key consequence of stigma is that people may ultimately hide their diagnosis from others. Just over a quarter said they would hide their diagnosis (n=1,069).
These preliminary findings highlight that the majority of Indonesians within our sample held attitudes towards dementia that would be considered positive. There was particularly strong view that people should be more tolerant towards those with dementia in Indonesian society, which is promising.
Importantly, for some items there was a sizeable minority that held more stigmatising views that could result in people hiding their diagnosis or adopting care behaviours that do not seek to improve the lives of people with dementia. Whilst a single item (“I do not think people with dementia can make a positive contribution to society”) indicates that some prejudice and stereotypes might be more widespread.
Further analysis is needed to better contextualise these findings, but collection of population level attitude data allows for us to identify potentially stigmatising attitudes and beliefs, whilst providing an opportunity to understand who and why certain groups might hold them.
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