Family physicians' recommendations for help-seeking for a person with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Background and aims: To assess family physicians' recommendations for help-seeking for a person with Alzheimer's disease, and their relation to knowledge about symptoms of the disease.

Method: An experimental vignette method was used, with a nationally representative sample of 395 Israeli family physicians. Intentions to seek help from professional and non-professional sources and knowledge about 11 warning signs of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 4 non-AD symptoms was assessed.

Results: With the exception of the spouse and children, family physicians were more likely to recommend seeking help from professional than from non-professional sources. The main professional sources recommended concerned primary care. Participants were very knowledgeable about the symptoms of AD, and more knowledge about cognitive symptoms was associated with recommendations to seek help from specialists and primary care sources.

Conclusions: The findings of this study emphasize the complexity of recommendations for help-seeking in the management of dementia, and stress the importance of improving physicians' knowledge about symptoms of the disease and about guidelines suggesting collaboration with specialists and community professionals.