Measuring primary care patients' attitudes about dementia screening.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a questionnaire that will capture patients' attitudes about dementia screening in primary care.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study of 315 patients aged 65 and older attending urban and rural primary care clinics in Indianapolis and North Carolina. The Perceptions Regarding Investigational Screening for Memory in Primary Care (PRISM-PC) questionnaire was administered via face-to-face or telephone interview.


RESULTS
The PRISM-PC questionnaire consists of two separate scales: the patient's acceptance of dementia screening scale and the patient's perceived harms and benefits of dementia screening scale. The face validity of the PRISM-PC questionnaire was based on a systematic literature review and the opinions of 16 clinician-investigators with experience in screening for dementia. Exploratory factor analyses for the acceptance scale revealed the presence of two dimensions: knowledge about dementia risk and testing for dementia. For the benefits and harms scale, exploratory factor analyses identified four dimensions: perceived benefits of screening, stigma of screening, suffering from screening, and impact of screening on patients' independence. The internal consistency of each of the above subscales was good with Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.58-0.85.


CONCLUSIONS
The PRISM-PC questionnaire captures primary care patients' acceptance, perceived harms, and perceived benefits of dementia screening.
Boustani
Malaz
M
Indiana University Center for Aging Research, Indianapolis, IN, USA. mboustani@regenstrief.org <mboustani@regenstrief.org>
Perkins
Anthony J
AJ
Monahan
Patrick
P
Fox
Chris
C
Watson
Lea
L
Hopkins
John
J
Fultz
Bridget
B
Hui
Siu
S
Unverzagt
Frederick W
FW
Callahan
Christopher M
CM
Hendrie
Hugh C
HC
D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003657:Decision Making; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000458:organization & administration; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011320:Primary Health Care; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires