Combatting Stigma Toward Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders: The Role of Nostalgia

There is limited evidence on how to tackle stigma toward individuals with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders (ADRD). This study addressed this issue by examining how nostalgia (a sentimental longing for a personally experienced past) for experiences involving people with ADRD can be used to harness more positive attitudes and behavioral tendencies.

One hundred student nurses were randomly assigned to either recall a nostalgic or (in the control condition) an ordinary interaction involving a person with ADRD, before completing questionnaire measures of inclusion of people with ADRD (i.e., an outgroup) in the self (IOGS), stigma toward those with ADRD, and tendency to approach those with ADRD.

We found that experimentally induced nostalgia led to higher inclusion of people with ADRD in the self (IOGS; F [1, 98] = 5.69, p = 0.02, η² = 0.06) which was in turn linked to reduced stigma toward people with ADRD (F [, 98] = 8.07, p = 0.005, η² = 0.08) and a greater tendency to approach them (F [1, 98] = 4.35, p = 0.04, η² = 0.06).

Induced nostalgia can reduce stigma and promote approach behavioral tendencies toward people within a medical context by promoting inclusion of people with ADRD in the self. These findings have interventional potential in a context where negative perceptions of people with ADRD can be problematic.