INSIGHT

Developing a structured assessment of insight into memory and thinking symptoms

What is ‘insight’?

‘Insight’ means being aware of how good or bad you are at doing things. This could be knowing how good your memory is, or how well you do playing a sport. People who have dementia often lose insight into their memory and thinking symptoms. This means they are not fully aware of their memory and thinking problems.

Loss of insight can cause serious problems. A person might try and do things that they can’t do safely. This could be things like driving, using the cooker, or making financial decisions. Loss of insight can cause arguments, when friends or family ask the person not to do things, or tell them that they have a problem.

Why is this study being done?

Insight into memory and thinking is difficult to measure. Right now we don’t have any practical tools for assessing insight during a clinic. An assessment needs to cover all the important areas of memory and thinking. It has to be short and easy to complete.

This study will develop and test a new insight assessment. The assessment will be a questionnaire. This will ask questions about memory and thinking. There will be 2 versions of the same questionnaire: 1 for the person being assessed, and 1 for someone who knows them very well. We will compare their answers. This will show if the person being assessed can accurately describe their memory and thinking ability.

What will happen if I take part?

We will ask you to identify someone who knows you well, who is willing to be your study partner. You and your study partner will be asked to attend together for a study visit. You and your study partner will be asked to fill in the questionnaire, and to give some basic information about yourselves. We will ask questions such as how old you are, if you are male or female, and what memory and thinking symptoms you have.

A researcher will be on hand to clarify any parts of the questionnaire which aren’t clear. We will ask to you to complete a computerised memory and thinking test, and a brief pen and paper memory and thinking test. The study visit will last about 1 and a half hours. You can take breaks during the tests if your need to.