Stigmatization of Persons With Dementia: A Challenge For Social Gerontology

Introduction: With old age we are exposed to various diseases and problems. Dementia is a disease that is very common after age of 65 and often requires dependence of relatives as the disease progresses. Dementia due to diseases changes marks the individual. This often occurs in dementia, as their social image is often stigmatized. It should be emphasized that in today’s society, age is often stigmatized as a synonym for a period of poor health and aging appearance. Methodology: In this thesis we wanted to explore the view and personal thinking of different age groups on dementia, and how strongly they express differences in stigmatization of people with dementia. We included three groups of people in the study and examined their personal attitude toward stigmatizing people with dementia. We included 150 people in the study, 50 from each of three generations. Sampling was first stratified and then occasional or practical. Results: We find that there are statistically significant differences between age groups in stigmatization of people with dementia, that there are no statistically significant differences between the sexes in stigmatization of people with dementia, that there are statistically significant differences between educational groups in stigmatization of people with dementia, that there are no statistically significant differences according to place of residence in stigmatization of people with dementia.