Education about dementia in primary care: Is person-centredness the key?

Abstract

Primary care is ideally placed to recognise and manage dementia and yet dementia can be overlooked or misattributed by primary care practitioners and is underdiagnosed. This might be explained by a lack of formal training in the diagnosis of dementia combined with a reluctance to diagnose due to its associated stigma. This paper describes focus group work with service users, carers and health professionals, conducted to develop an educational intervention for primary care promoting person-centred responses to people experiencing cognitive decline and dementia. Data was analysed thematically and four themes emerged: Reframing dementia as cognitive decline (Individual level); triggers for the recognition of dementia (Practitioner level); engaging the whole primary care team (Practice level); the relationship between primary and secondary care (Service level). Findings are discussed in the context of their contribution to challenging attitudes to dementia in primary care and the positive aspects of person-centred primary care for dementia.