Australia’s Dementia Awareness Survey
Participant information
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) is conducting Australia’s Dementia Awareness Survey (ADAS) in 2023. The AIHW is an independent statutory Australian Government agency producing authoritative and accessible information and statistics to inform and support better policy and service delivery decisions, leading to better health and wellbeing for all Australians.
On this page, you will find a list of frequently asked questions, and information on how to complete the survey and where to find the results. Please click on each question to read the answer.
We hope that you will take the time to complete the survey and share your views and knowledge of dementia and people living with dementia.
What is Australia’s Dementia Awareness Survey?
AIHW has commissioned the Social Research Centre to run Australia’s Dementia Awareness Survey to gather data on the Australian adult population’s attitudes and knowledge of dementia and dementia risk reduction. Information from ADAS will help determine priorities and specific focus areas for dementia awareness initiatives and prevention activities stemming from the National Dementia Action Plan for Australia, a joint initiative between the Australian Government and State and Territory Governments.
Approximately 5,350 people aged 18 and over will take part. Participants will receive and complete their surveys between July and August 2023, and results are expected to be released in April 2024.
Privacy and ethics
The survey results are confidential, and strictly protected by law. Section 29 of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Act 1987 prohibits the release of any information about individuals collected in the survey. The data will be collected, de-identified, and securely stored by the Social Research Centre (a subsidiary of the Australian National University). The Social Research Centre’s full Privacy Policy is available on the Social Research Centre website. The data security procedures adopted by the Social Research Centre comply with the Australian Privacy Principles, the Market and Social Research Privacy Principles (ISO 20252), and the Code of Professional Behaviour of the Research Society.
The research complies with the Privacy Act 1988, and the information is only used for research purposes. It is important to note that this means participant anonymity is ensured, and survey responses can never be used for any form of law enforcement.
We do not identify individuals, and any potentially identifying information attached to your response (such as your address) will be securely destroyed. The results will only be reported in aggregate form.
The AIHW Ethics Committee has reviewed and approved the survey project.
More information
See the Frequently Asked Questions for answers to specific questions about the survey.
Alternatively, if you have any other questions about your participation, or you would like to opt out, please call the Social Research Centre on 1800 023 040 or email: [email protected]
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please contact:
Dr Sarang Kim
Dementia Unit, The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
Email: [email protected].
Frequently asked questions
This webpage provides detailed information for people who have been selected to participate in Australia’s Dementia Awareness Survey. Here you will find a list of frequently asked questions, and information on how to complete the survey and where to find the results. Please click on each question to read the answer.
We hope that you will take the time to complete the survey and share your views and knowledge on dementia and people living with dementia.
This survey allows you to share your attitudes and knowledge of dementia, dementia risk reduction, and people living with dementia. Findings from the survey are used by a range of stakeholders including researchers and policymakers, to help determine priorities and specific focus areas for dementia awareness initiatives and prevention activities stemming from the National Dementia Action Plan for Australia, a joint initiative between the Australian Government and State and Territory Governments.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) runs the survey. The AIHW has contracted Social Research Centre to undertake the fieldwork for the survey. Social Research Centre and their contractors, Multicultural Management and Marketing (MMM) and i-Link, invite you to complete the survey online or over the phone (for Life in Australia panellists).
In addition to general questions about your age, sex, birthplace, education, cultural background, and income, the survey will ask about your:
- attitudes towards dementia and people living with dementia
- knowledge of dementia and dementia risk reduction
- lifestyle-related actions/behaviours
- attitudes towards information seeking and sharing of dementia diagnosis; and
- opinion on dementia friendliness of your community.
There are two ways to complete the survey:
- Online: You can easily complete the questionnaire online, on any device, in one or more sittings.
- By phone: if you are a member of Life in Australia, you can also opt to complete the survey via phone.
If you are recruited by Multicultural Management and Marketing (MMM), the online survey form has been translated and is available in Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Punjabi. If you are recruited by Social Research Centre or i-Link, the questionnaire is only available in English.
Participation in the survey is entirely voluntary, but your participation is important so that we can obtain information from a cross-section of the population. The more people who complete the survey, the more useful the information will be.
In any collection of personal information, there is some risk that third parties could access confidential data. The researchers have a host of systems in place to minimise this risk. All the information collected is confidential and it will not be possible to identify individuals. At the end of the research, only aggregate results will be presented.
Yes. Everyone’s answers are important. It does not matter if you do not know much about dementia or have no experience with people living with dementia. We need to obtain answers from a broad range of people so that the survey results represent the views and knowledge of most Australians.
The survey will take about 15 minutes to complete.
If you have questions about how to complete the survey, please phone 1800 023 040 (Social Research Centre) for help.
The survey results are confidential, and strictly protected by law. Section 29 of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Act 1987 prohibits the release of any information about individuals collected in the survey. The data will be collected, de-identified, and securely stored by the Social Research Centre (a subsidiary of the Australian National University). The Social Research Centre’s full Privacy Policy is available on the Social Research Centre website. The data security procedures adopted by the Social Research Centre comply with the Australian Privacy Principles, the Market and Social Research Privacy Principles (ISO 20252), and the Code of Professional Behaviour of the Research Society.
The research complies with the Privacy Act 1988, and the information is only used for research purposes. It is important to note that this means participant anonymity is ensured, and survey responses can never be used for any form of law enforcement.
We do not identify individuals, and any potentially identifying information attached to your response (such as your address) will be securely destroyed. The results will only be reported in aggregate form.
The AIHW Ethics Committee has reviewed and approved the survey project.
Results will be analysed by the AIHW and a report will be published on the AIHW website.Results will be analysed by the AIHW and a report will be published on the AIHW website.
The results of the survey allow us to understand Australian adults’ attitudes and knowledge of dementia and people living with dementia. This in turn can help Governments to determine priorities and specific focus areas for dementia awareness initiatives and prevention activities stemming from the National Dementia Action Plan.
For the results of the survey to be accurate and representative of everyone, and to reflect the views of different groups in our society on attitudes and awareness of dementia, we need involvement from as many of the people invited as possible.
For more information on dementia, please visit Dementia Australia.
If you would like to talk to someone about any issues that have arisen from participating in this survey, about how you have been feeling, or if you have any concerns about your mental health, please seek support from one of the services listed below:
- Beyondblue Phone: 1300 22 4636
- Lifeline Phone: 13 11 14
- National Dementia Helpline Phone: 1800 100 500.