Causal attributions of dementia among Korean American immigrants.
To better understand conceptualizations of dementia, this study explored causal attributions of dementia among 209 Korean Americans, using a self-administered questionnaire in Korean. Findings show that Korean Americans endorsed various causal attributions. Factor analysis yielded 3 dimensions of their attributions including psychological, physical/environmental, and cognitive/social. Bivariate analyses showed that younger age and higher education were related to more physical/environmental attributions, and younger age was related to more cognitive/social attributions. The study provides an understanding of causal attributions of dementia that practitioners need to understand to provide culturally competent practice and highlights a need to customize public education messages by specific ethnic groups.
School of Social Work, San Jose State University, San Jose, California 95192–0124, USA. sangl@casa.sjsu.edu
Sang E
SE
Lee
Sadhna
S
Diwan
Gwen
G
Yeo
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology*; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003704:Dementia / Q000208:ethnology*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000208:ethnology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors