title: Acceptance of and attitudes towards Alzheimer's disease screening in elderly German adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Considering the discussion on implementing routine dementia screening in Germany, the objective of the current study was to validate the German version of the Perceptions Regarding Investigational Screening for Memory in Primary Care (PRISM-PC) questionnaire and to determine the acceptance of Alzheimer's disease screening in elderly German adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  The German version of the PRISM-PC was administered to a subsample of participants who attended the Berlin Aging Study II (n = 506). The questionnaire was validated by exploratory as well as confirmatory factor analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regarding acceptance of Alzheimer's disease screening (Section B) a single factor structure fitted best. In terms of attitudes regarding Alzheimer's disease (Section D), a hierarchical factor structure was modeled with the higher-order factor "Harms" covering the domains "Family Burden," "Dependence," "Emotional Suffering," "Stigma," and "Medical Care" on the one hand and the domain "Future Planning" on the other hand. Internal consistency of the different scales reached from α = 0.67 to α = 0.94. Overall, 71.2% of the participants indicated that they wanted to be screened for Alzheimer's disease on a regular basis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that acceptance can reliably be assessed with the section "Acceptance of Alzheimer's disease screenings" of the German PRISM-PC questionnaire. Furthermore, the majority of elderly German adults would like to be screened for Alzheimer's disease regularly, which might be an effective starting point in order to implement routine dementia screenings. As the sample is a convenience sample of (relatively) healthy older adults, generalizability of these results is limited.
authors.affiliation: Berlin Aging Study II, Charité Research Group on Geriatrics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Sarah R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.affiliation: Berlin Aging Study II, Charité Research Group on Geriatrics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Katinka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Reiner
authors.affiliation: Berlin Aging Study II, Charité Research Group on Geriatrics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tegeler
authors.affiliation: Berlin Aging Study II, Charité Research Group on Geriatrics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bucholtz
authors.affiliation: Indiana University Center for Aging Research, Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Malaz A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Boustani
authors.affiliation: Berlin Aging Study II, Charité Research Group on Geriatrics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Steinhagen-Thiessen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000523:psychology*; D008609:Mental Status Schedule / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires