Open Access
CC BY 4.0 · Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2025; 83(07): s00451809544
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1809544
Original Article

Dementia-related primary care training needs: a qualitative study

1   University of Chile, Hospital del Salvador, Faculty of Medicine, Memory and Neuropsychiatric Centre, Neurology Department, Santiago, Chile.
2   Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
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3   Ministry of Health, Santiago, Chile.
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4   Universidad de los Lagos, Department of Family Medicine, Osorno, Chile.
,
2   Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
5   Foundation Dementia Action Alliance, Krakow, Poland.
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2   Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
,
1   University of Chile, Hospital del Salvador, Faculty of Medicine, Memory and Neuropsychiatric Centre, Neurology Department, Santiago, Chile.
6   Geroscience Centre for Brain Health and Metabollism, Santiago, Chile.
7   University of Chile, Faculty of Medicine, Neuropsychology and Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Physiopathology, Biomedical Science Institute, Neuroscience and East Neuroscience Departments, Santiago, Chile.
8   Universidad del Desarrollo, Clínica Alemana, Department of Medicine, Neurology Unit, Santiago, Chile.
› Author Affiliations

Funding The present research was funded by GBHI ALZ UK-22-863056. AS is partially supported by ANID (FONDAP ID15150012 and Fondecyt Regular 1231839).
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Abstract

Background

Most guidelines recommend that people living with dementia and their care partners should be managed in primary care. However, the knowledge and confidence of these teams in managing dementia is low, and training programs are lacking.

Objective

To identify the training needs of primary care teams by integrating insights from these professionals, as well as dementia patients and their care partners.

Methods

Qualitative research methods were applied, using focus group interviews with health professionals and individual interviews with people living with dementia and their care partners. A direct qualitative analysis of 15 recorded interviews (3 focus groups and 12 individuals) was performed using the transcribed data.

Results

Primary care professionals recognize the importance of continuous education on dementia and expressed the need for more knowledge about diagnosis, symptom management, and interpersonal and communication skills. Care partners and dementia patients highlighted the need for a better diagnostic disclosure process, improved continuity of care, and availability of greater postdiagnosis support.

Conclusion

Our study, novel in Latin America, strongly supported the need for more training in dementia for primary care professionals, as well as for additional content and information not usually included in standard dementia education.

Authors' Contributions

Conceptualization: TL, SB, AS; Formal analysis: DT; Funding acquisition: TL; Investigation: TL, DT; Methodology: DT; Resources: SB, AS; Supervision: AS; Writing – original draft: TL, MK; Writing – review & editing: TL, MK, BL, AS. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.


Data Availability Statement

Data are available on demand.


Editor-in-Chief: Hélio A. G. Teive.https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2305-1073


Associate Editor: Leonardo Cruz de Souza.https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5027-9722




Publication History

Received: 28 January 2025

Accepted: 30 March 2025

Article published online:
02 July 2025

© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Bibliographical Record
Tomas Leon, Deiza Troncoso, Soledad Barria, Magda Kaczmarska, Brian Lawlor, Andrea Slachevsky. Dementia-related primary care training needs: a qualitative study. Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2025; 83: s00451809544.
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1809544