Dementia campaigns should employ engaging, personalised approaches to drive behaviour changes: Study

A new analysis of dementia public health campaigns in eight countries including Australia the US and China has suggested that engaging personalised and communitydriven approaches are needed to genuinely influence behaviour change and reduce dementia riskThe neurodegenerative condition affects 57 million people globally and the figure is forecast to triple by 2050 substantially burdening families health systems and economies researchers from Australias Curtin University saidNearly half of global dementia cases are preventable simply by tackling modifiable risk factors including physical inactivity smoking high LDL cholesterol and depression a study published in The Lancet journal in August 2024 saidHowever public health approaches are falling short of driving real behaviour change the researchers saidThe analysis of populationlevel interventions focussed on communicating dementiaspecific risk reduction and prevention messaging found that while largescale health awareness campaigns can reach wide audiences they often lead to only small improvements in knowledge and limited changes in behaviourEducational and interactive interventions including personalised risk profiling online courses elearning programmes and communitybased approaches showed more consistent improvements in knowledge and riskreducing behaviours the authors wroteThey said the most promising intervention combined risk assessment with a structured education achieving a 26 per cent improvement in modifiable risk factors over three yearsCoauthor Blossom Stephan chair in dementia at Curtin Universitys enAble Institute said many people still did not realise dementia risk could be reducedThere is still a widespread belief that dementia is an unavoidable part of ageing which is not the case Stephan saidBut even when people are aware of the risks barriers such as time cost and motivation can prevent them from making changes to their lifestyle the coauthor saidOverall interventions requiring an active engagement were found to produce stronger behavioural effects compared to passive informationonly approachesThe findings highlight the potential value of combining risk communication with tailored educational content to optimise engagement and behavioural impact the researchers saidAuthor Mario Siervo from Curtin Universitys school of population health said the findings showed a clear gap between what people know and what they doUp to 45 per cent of dementia cases are linked to modifiable factors we can change such as our lifestyle health status and environment Siervo saidBut simply telling people what those risks are isnt enough awareness campaigns are important but on their own they rarely lead to meaningful or lasting behaviour change the author saidSiervo added that a second new study conducted by the group has provided further evidence on the relevance of modifiable risk factors for dementiaThe results published in journal Clinical Nutrition indicated that muscle strength and body composition play a significant role in dementia risk highlighting the need for more targeted prevention approachesThe research led by researchers at Curtin University followed nearly 500000 adults over more than a decade and found that people with both low muscle strength and excess body fat known as sarcopenic obesity had a higher risk of developing dementiaIn contrast obesity on its own was not associated with increased dementia risk if muscle strength was preserved which the researchers said highlighted the importance of muscle health alongside maintaining an optimal body composition in dementia preventionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever