What you say and what I want: Priorities for public health campaigning and initiatives in relation to dementia

Abstract

Objective: To examine the overlap between priorities expressed by representatives from national and local campaigning organisations and the views of key voices in relation to dementia.

Methods: Semi-structured, in-depth telephone interviews were conducted with 19 representatives from campaigning organisations, including nine countries and six local community initiatives in Australia. Responses were categorised into nine priorities. Views were compared to the voices of people with dementia (n = 19), carers (n = 28), and health-care (n = 21), social work (n = 23) and service professionals (n = 20).

Results: Local groups prioritised user-led decision-making and community normalising agendas. National groups were influenced by service frameworks and increasing public awareness. Professional and carer groups focused on increasing understanding and communication skills while people with dementia valued being a normal part of society.

Conclusion: Future campaigning should use both national and local approaches to changing social relations, through interpersonal connections, advocacy and social mobilisation, to promote a normalising approach to attitude change.

Keywords: attitudes to health; campaign; communication; dementia; public health; social attitudes.