ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the issue of educating people about the differences between normal forgetfulness and dementia is considered. For this purpose an information brochure was developed and evaluated. Information about this topic is necessary because research reveals that many people, especially the elderly, are worried about their diminishing memory and/or about incipient dementia. However, most people in this group are worrying unnecessarily, which could result in reduced quality of life and in increased costs for the health care system. The effectiveness of the brochure was tested among a group of 500 elderly people in the province of Limburg in The Netherlands who were worried about their memory. An interesting finding was that 45 per cent mentioned stress and tension as a contributing cause of their forgetfulness. The use of alcohol was mentioned by 11 per cent of the respondents as a possible cause. After reading the brochure, the number of people who worried a lot about their memory or incipient dementia decreased considerably.
After testing 104 people with a short cognitive test battery, it appeared that some people remained worried about possible dementia, despite the information in the brochure and their good test performance. A relatively 313high percentage of people in this group appeared to have a close relative with dementia and their worries could be explained by anxiety about heredity. Some people with poor test results became less worried. This group experienced fewer problems in daily life than the people who were justifiably worried, and there are indications that they have a better way of coping with their forgetfulness in daily life.
In future health education activities on this topic, general practitioners could have an important role in instructing and educating people with memory complaints, because of their key position in the health care system. An education protocol should be developed in order to enable them to accomplish this role adequately. This will lead to considerable savings for the health care system.
