[[alternative]]An investigation of knowledge, attitude, intentions and actions towards dementia and dementia-friendly among policemen in Hsinchu City

[[abstract]]背景：失智盛行率隨著老化而增加，已是台灣重要的公共衛生議題。失智者可能發生的報案案件有走失、意外事故、竊盜、詐騙、情緒問題等，站在社區第一線的警察同仁有必要增加自身對於失智者辨識的敏感度，但是探討警察人員的失智症知識、失智友善態度、失智友善意圖與行動的護理研究仍然不足。目的：本研究的目的在探討警察人員之失智症認知、失智友善態度與失智友善意圖與行動之相關因素及其預測因子。研究方法：本研究採橫斷式研究設計，利用便利取樣對新竹市警察人員335人進行問卷調查，問卷回收率100%，統計分析以281份有效問卷進行之。問卷內容包括：基本人口學資料、失智症知識量表(含: DKAT2、自擬的失智症協助勤務與失智友善政策相關知識問卷)及自擬的失智友善態度、意圖與行為問卷。結果：研究結果顯示，警察人員之失智症協助勤務知識、失智友善政策知識、失智友善態度、失智友善意圖與失智友善行動呈現顯著正相關。經逐步迴歸分析結果顯示：失智友善意圖(解釋力69.1%)、失智友善態度與性別對失智友善行動可解釋總變異量約72.6%；失智友善態度(解釋力34.0%)、失智友善政策知識與員警的年資對失智友善意圖可解釋總變異量約40.8%；失智症協助勤務知識與工作中曾接觸(疑似)失智者對失智友善態度可解釋總變異量約9.5%。結論：警察人員的失智友善意圖與行動的預測因子為：性別、年資、工作中曾接觸(疑似)失智者、失智症協助勤務與友善政策知識及失智症友善態度。為營造失智友善環境，公衛護理師應主動出擊與地方警局合作，共同發展出適合地方員警的教育訓練課程，已達增進失智相關知識、提升失智友善態度及行為之目標。透過這些教育訓練，地方員警將會更有能力為失智症者提供適性的服務。[[abstract]]Background: The prevalence of dementia increases with age and causes an important public health concern in Taiwan. People living with dementia may go missing, encounter with accident, theft, and fraud, and experience emotional problems. There is an urge need for police officers to be competent while providing assistance during interactions with people with dementia. However, there is limited literature examining the relationship between police officers’ dementia knowledge, dementia-friendly attitudes, intentions and actions.Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between dementia knowledge, dementia-friendly attitude, intention and behavior of policemen. In addition, an investigation of predictive factors for dementia-friendly attitdue, intention and actions was conducted.Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey research, a convenient sampling technique was applied. A total of 335 police officers from the Hsinchu City participated in this study. The response rate was 100% and a total of 281 valid questionnaires were used in the data analysis. The questionnaires consist of instruments of socio-demographics, dementia knowledge (i.e., DKAT2, self-developed scales for knowledge on dementia assistance service and dementia-friendly policy), self-developed dementia-friendly attitudes, intentions and behavior scales.Results: The results indicated that knowledge of dementia assistance service, knowledge of dementia-friendly policy, dementia-friendly attitudes, dementia-friendly intentions, and dementia-friendly actions were significantly positively correlated. The results from stepwise regression analysis showed that dementia-friendly intentions (with an explanatory power of 69.1%), dementia-friendly attitudes and gender explained approximately 72.6% of the total variance of dementia-friendly actions; dementia-friendly attitudes (with an explanatory power of 34.0%), knowledge of dementia-friendly policy, and police working expierences together explained approximately 40.8% of the total variance of dementia-friendly intentions; knowledge of dementia assistance service and experiences in handling of residents with dementia explained approximately 9.5% of the total variance of dementia-friendly attitudes.Conclusion: Gender, seniority, experiences in handling of residents with dementia, knowledge of dementia assistance service and dementia-friendly policy, and dementia-friendly attitudes are important predictive factors of dementia-friendly intentions and actions among police officers. To ensure a dementia-friendly environment, community health nurses are encourage to reach out to local police department and cooperate with the law enforcement authority to develop training programs that promotes dementia knowledge, increases dementia-friendly attidues, and actions. Through the participation of these traning programs, the police officer are expected to increase competence of handling residents with dementia within the policing culture