Knowledge and perception on Alzheimer's disease among undergraduate students in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia

Sivanesan, Rashika and Abdul Razak, Nur Iman Najihah and Ng, Chee Han (2021) Knowledge and perception on Alzheimer's disease among undergraduate students in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia. [Project Paper] (Submitted)

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Abstract

Introduction: In Malaysia it has been estimated that 63,000 persons will have dementia, with an average occurrence of 20,100 individuals in 2005 and will rise to about 126,800 total dementia cases, with 39,000 annual new cases by 2020. The primary underlying cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease (AD) which is also the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease in Malaysia and worldwide. Objective: This study aimed to determine the relationship between the sociodemographic factors which were age, gender, ethnicity, family income, year of study, course of study and family members with AD and the level of knowledge and perception on AD among undergraduate students in the FMHS, UPM. Materials and methods: A cross sectional study was done where the participants for this study were chosen via simple random sampling. The online questionnaire consisted of three sections which were: (1) socio-demographic factors; (2) knowledge on AD; and (3) perception on AD among undergraduate students in the FMHS, UPM. The data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science program (SPSS). Independent T-test and one-way ANOVA test was conducted to identify factors associated with knowledge and perception on AD among respondents. Results: Majority of the respondents were 19-21 years old, female, Malay, in their first year of study, studying Medicine, in M40 family income status and had no family with AD. The overall mean ADKS was 59.17%. Our result had shown that age, gender, ethnicity and year of study were significantly associated with knowledge of AD. As for the questions to assess the respondents’ perception on AD, the most important risk factor chosen by the majority of the respondents to lead to AD was old age. Among all factors, only gender and having family with AD factors did not have any significant association between their groups with their perception towards risk factors causing AD. Conclusion: The results indicate that there is a significant association between the sociodemographic factors studied with the knowledge and perception on AD among the undergraduate students of FMHS, UPM. Future researchers are suggested to do an extensive study on another medical and health sciences students in other universities and healthcare professionals to increase the awareness on AD and its prevalence. Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, knowledge, perception, undergraduate students

Item Type:	Project Paper
Faculty:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
Depositing User:	Ms Norafizah Radzuan
Date Deposited:	07 Sep 2023 03:10
Last Modified:	07 Sep 2023 03:10
URI:	http://psaspb.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/914

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