Diagnosis makes a difference: Perceptions of older persons with dementia symptoms

Background/Study Context: Employing the stereotype content model and terror management theory, we examined whether stereotypes and feelings about persons with dementia vary depending on the type of dementia diagnosis and purported causes of the dementia.

Participants were randomly assigned to read one of four vignettes that depicted a man who consulted his doctor because of memory problems. All vignettes described the same symptoms and diagnostic tests, but each of four groups read a different result: all tests normal (Normal); Alzheimer's disease (AD); Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (WKS) associated with alcohol abuse; and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) associated with head injuries from playing football in high school and college. Measures included a word fragment completion task, a stereotype content scale, and an emotions scale.

Results showed no differences in the number of death-related words generated in the word fragment completion task and no differences in assessment of competence across the four groups. Those in the Normal, AD, and CTE groups evaluated the man as warmer than those in the WKS group. Participants in the AD condition showed more empathy than those in the WKS group. There were no differences in pity or fear but the CTE condition produced more envy and admiration and the WKS condition produced more contempt.

These results suggest that different forms of dementia elicit varying emotional and cognitive responses.