Knowledge of Dementia Among Undergraduates in the Health and Social Care Professions in Hong Kong

This study evaluated the knowledge of dementia among health and social care undergraduates in Hong Kong. The association between such knowledge and the undergraduates' self-efficacy in dementia caregiving was also studied. Dementia knowledge was assessed by a modified version of the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Test (ADK). The General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) was amended to also measure dementia-caregiving self-efficacy (DSE). Two hundred and forty-two final year undergraduates from four different health and social care disciplines participated in the study. The overall ADK score was 7.4 (SD = 3.7) out of 20, indicating a generally poor knowledge of dementia. DSE and hours of dementia education were positively correlated with knowledge of dementia. This finding suggests that self-efficacy and hours of teaching about dementia are associated with level of dementia knowledge among the future health and social care professionals.