title: Knowledge and Attitudes in Alzheimer's Disease in a Cohort of Older African Americans and Caucasians.
abstract: African American participation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) research studies has been historically low. To determine whether older African Americans and Caucasians had different knowledge or attitudes related to AD, we administered the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) to 67 older African Americans and 140 older caucasians in the greater Atlanta area as well as questions targeting locus of control over general health and AD risks. Older African Americans scored slightly lower on ADKS than older caucasians, with race only accounting for 1.57 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.57-2.61, P < .001) points of difference in a multivariate model. Attitudes toward AD were also similar between the 2 groups but 1 (35.7%) in 3 adults reported control over general health but not AD risks. In addition to enhancing education content in outreach efforts, there is an urgent need to address the perception that future AD risks are beyond one's own internal control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases Research, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: J Christina
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Howell
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases Research, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Oretunlewa
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Soyinka
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Jarrett
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Cornelya D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Dorbin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases Research, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA wthu@emory.edu.
authors.forename: William T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005845:Georgia; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012306:Risk; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: African American; caucasian; education; locus of control; minority; race; survey