How much do library students know about dementia? Findings from a quantitative study using the Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale

Abstract

The goal of the study presented in the paper is to assess the knowledge about Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), among library and information science students in Croatia. Understanding how much future librarians know about dementia is the first step towards providing them with relevant educational intervention which will equip them with required knowledge to develop dementia-friendly library services in a society which is increasingly affected by dementia. A total of 183 students participated in the study which used Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS), a validated instrument that measures what people know about AD using a 30-item questionnaire across seven knowledge domains: risk factors, symptoms, assessment and diagnosis, course of the disease, life impact, treatment, and management, and caregiving. The collected data were analysed using basic descriptive statistics and a parametric test ( $t$ -test). Findings show that respondents have poor AD knowledge. Only 35.78% questions were answered correctly and the mean knowledge score was 10.76. The findings revealed that participants with previous exposure to the disease have significantly better knowledge ( $P=$ 0.003).