(242) National Survey of the General Public’s Preferences for Community-Based Dementia Resource Mapping

Objective : Online dementia resource locator tools can help caregivers quickly find needed resources, but their optimal design is unclear. Thus, this study described the general public’s needs and preferences for dementia locator tools.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was distributed online using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) among US adults at least 18 years old. Questions were developed by the investigators and included: 1) Current availability of online dementia resources (1 multiple choice item); 2) Importance of online access to dementia information (1 Likert-type item); 3) Likelihood of using an online dementia resource map (1 Likert-type item); 4) Preferences for content of a dementia resource map (1 multiple response item). Questions were pre-tested and respondents received $5. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: A total of 300 surveys were completed. About 53% were male, 84.0% White, 64.0% were 35-54 years, and 48.0% were current/former dementia caregivers. About 93% thought it was important/very important to have online access to dementia information and 84% were likely/very likely to use an online map to find nearby dementia resources. However, only 68% reported having current access to an online website with dementia resources and information. Over 91% wanted a dementia resource map to include address information, 89% phone numbers, 87% website links, 81% ratings/reviews, 57% contact information for dementia care navigators, 56% information about typical resources for dementia care, and 40% links to general dementia information.

Conclusions: While most respondents preferred dementia resource locators to have typical address and contact information, a large portion wanted educational information incorporated into the tool. Future studies should develop and test dementia locator tools that include general dementia care information and a method to contact dementia care navigators.