Dementia Knowledge and Care Experience of Physicians in The South‐South Region of Nigeria: A Mixed Method Study

Fifteen physicians were purposively recruited for this study. The overall mean knowledge score of participants was 17.67 ± 3.29 out of a maximum possible score of 25. About half (53.3%) of study respondents had good dementia knowledge assessment scores. Care experienced by physicians from the qualitative findings was grouped into five themes to include: 1) Rate of dementia cases seen at the facility with low cases of dementia patients reported 2) Tools used for diagnosis of dementia with the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment are commonly reported. 3) Training of physicians on assessment and management of dementia cases with no formal training reported by participants 4) Clinical investigations conducted for dementia patients with MRI and CT were commonly reported 5) Communication of the diagnosis of dementia with the patients and their caregivers CONCLUSION: Routine update training to enhance the capacity of healthcare professionals in the diagnosis and management of dementia cases is needed. Also, healthcare facilities should be equipped with cutting-edge facilities to enhance diagnosis and management of dementia.