An attribution model of stigma towards a person with Alzheimer's disease

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An attribution model of stigma towards a person
with Alzheimer's disease

• Perla Werner
• Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences
• University of Haifa
• Israel

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Alzheimers disease

• Incurable, degenerative and progressive disease
• Affects mental, cognitive
• and physical functioning

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AD is the most common type of dementia
6 out of 10 cases of dementia are AD
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Prevalence

• There are an estimated 30 million people with
  dementia worldwide.
• By 2050, it is projected that this figure will
  have increased to over 100 million.

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Stigma and AD

• It is widely assumed that AD is associated with
  stigma
• Scant empirical evidence
• Theory - driven

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Attribution modelCorrigan and colleagues
Dangerousness
Attributions of responsibility
Emotional reactions
Discrimination
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Aim

• To examine the relationships between causal
  attributions (e.g., responsibility), familiarity
  with the disease, dangerousness, emotional
  responses (pity, anger, fear) and helping and
  discriminatory behaviors (avoidance, segregation,
  coercion) towards AD in the lay public

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Methods

• A nationally representative sample of 1,002
  adults
• Were interviewed using CATI
• Adapted version of the AQ-27

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Participants characteristics(n 1,002)

• 52.6 F
• Mean age 46.5 (SD 17.7)
• Mean number of years of education 13.5 (SD
  3.4)
• Jewish 83.9

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Cognitive attributions
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Emotional attributions
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Behavioral attributions
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Model for willingness to help (n 1,002)
Responsibility
-.09
Help
-.08
.44
.31
Pity
-.15
Dangerousness
Chi square 7.57 df 3 p 0.56 NFI -
.979 RMSEA .039
-.08
Familiarity
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Model for discrimination
-.07
Responsibility
Coercion
.31
.12
Dangerousness
.12
.30
Segregation
.64
.14
-.08
Fear
.11
-.08
Avoidance
Familiarity
-.16
Chi square 12.44 df 3 p 0.13 NFI -
.990 RMSEA .024
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Relationships with gender
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Relationship with ethnicity
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Relationship with ethnicity
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Relationship with ethnicity
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Summary of findings

• Low attributions of responsibility and
  dangerousness
• Low negative feelings
• High positive feelings
• Partial support of an extended version of
  Attribution Theory
• Minority and younger participants reported less
  discriminatory behaviors

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Theoretical implications

• The role of other attributions should be examined
• The role of other emotional reactions should be
  examined
• The role of ethnicity and culture in the
  attribution model should be elucidated

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Practical implications

• Disseminate findings in order to increase early
  diagnosis
• Develop and implement programs to increase the
  familiarity and knowledge about AD
• Replicate study in professional samples

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Thank you