Knowledge and attitudes towards dementia among health professionals in Somaliland: a pilot survey.

Objectives: This study was aimed to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professionals in Somaliland towards dementia.

Methods: Between June and July 2023, we administered an adapted online survey consisting of 30 Alzheimer's disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) true or false statements and 10 Dementia Care Attitude Scale (DCAS) Likert-scale items. The reliability of the Likert-scale DCAS items was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. The distribution of responses to DCAS statements was examined using a binomial test, and the relationship between knowledge or attitude and sample characteristics was assessed using Pearson's chi-squared test or Fisher's exact test.

Results: The overall validity (Cronbach's alpha) for DCAS statements (0.88) was greater than 0.80, indicating good level of internal consistency. Out of 107 healthcare workers who completed the survey, 53.3% had unfavourable attitude towards dementia care, and 49.5% had a moderate-to-high knowledge level.

Conclusions: Our pilot survey revealed a lack of knowledge and attitudes about dementia among health professionals and urges high quality surveys to validate the results.