Beliefs About Memory Problems and Help Seeking in Elderly Persons

✍ Scribed by Werner, Perla

• Book ID: 126710325
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 599 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0731-7115
• DOI: 10.1300/J018v27n04_03

✦ Synopsis

Using the Health Belief Model as its conceptual framework this study examined elderly persons' perceptions about memory problems and their decisions about seeking help for these problems.

In-depth interviews were used with 79 community-dwelling elderly persons.

Participants believed memory problems to be an inevitable part of the aging process. Psychological consequences were mentioned as the main impact of these problems. Seeking care was presented mainly as a result of fatalistic beliefs that nothing can be done to help with memory problems.

Findings of this study help identifying areas for potential intervention, such as the development of education strategies for elderly persons and for healthcare providers.