Objectives

Effective dementia prevention requires tailored interventions that account for varying levels of community awareness, preparedness, and collective capacity for action. In this study, the community readiness model was employed to assess the readiness of Taiwanese communities for dementia prevention, and the theory of collective efficacy was utilized to investigate the association between collective efficacy and community readiness.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted from March to June 2021 among leaders from 456 communities in Taipei City. A total of 3,129 leaders, including community heads and chairpersons of community development organizations, were invited to participate in the survey. In total, 447 valid responses were obtained from 288 communities, with this representing 63.16% of all communities in the city. The survey assessed community knowledge, leadership, resource availability, awareness of government programs, and collective efficacy (willingness to intervene/act and social cohesion).

Results

A cluster analysis revealed four distinct types of community readiness. Corresponding public health strategy recommendations were proposed: communities with low capacities should strengthen leadership training and improve resource allocation, those familiar with government initiatives should expand dementia education and promote local engagement initiatives, those with balanced readiness should sustain participation and foster information sharing; and those with high resource levels should improve the accuracy of dementia knowledge and encourage continual involvement. The community readiness clusters varied significantly in terms of collective efficacy (p < .001) and prior implementation of dementia prevention programs (p < .001), indicating that disparities in community readiness correlate with varying levels of collective efficacy and proactive policy participation. A multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that communities with greater readiness for dementia prevention demonstrated stronger social cohesion (p < .001).

Conclusions

Implementing tailored interventions for different community types and fostering social cohesion may help translate slogans into action, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of dementia prevention efforts and ultimately improving long-term public health outcomes.