title: Self-reported quality of life ratings of people with dementia: the role of attitudes to aging.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Attitudes to aging have not previously been assessed in people with dementia. The possession of positive life attitudes into older age has the potential to induce resilience to health changes and may explain the discrepancy between self-reported and proxy ratings of quality of life (QoL). The aim of this study was to explore the attitudes of people with dementia to determine the main factors that predict these attitudes and any relationship that exists with self-reported QoL.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-six participants with dementia were recruited from a memory clinic setting. The Bath Assessment of Subjective Quality of Life in Dementia, Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire (AAQ), Memory Functioning Scale, Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study Activities of Daily Living Inventory, and Mini-Mental State Examination were administered. The AAQ was also completed by 86 community-dwelling older adults without dementia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants with dementia displayed a significantly stronger endorsement of the negative attitude that aging is a time of psychosocial loss than those without dementia. Regression analyses suggest this negative attitude acts as a partial mediator in the relationship between the person's level of insight and self-reported QoL.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Negative attitudes to aging had a direct impact on the self-reported QoL ratings of people with dementia. The view of aging as a time of psychosocial loss was most significant for people with dementia and suggests that negative stereotypes of dementia need to be challenged. In order to promote QoL, care should focus on abilities that the person retains rather than what has been lost.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK. Richard.trigg@ntu.ac.uk
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Trigg
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Watts
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tod
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Elliman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires