United Kingdom: A new study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, has found that a person’s sense of purpose declines following a diagnosis of dementia or cognitive decline. “Purpose in life is the feeling that one’s life is goal-oriented and has direction. It is an important component of well-being,” Dr. Angelina Sutin, lead author of the study, shared.
“Researchers now know a sense of purpose is an important factor in good health across adulthood,” Ms. Sutin, professor of behavioural sciences and social medicine at the Florida State University College of Medicine in Tallahassee, remarked. Previous studies have found that individuals with more purpose are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
The researchers studied data from more than 30,000 people across two studies: the Health and Retirement Study from 2006 to 2021 and the National Health and Ageing Trends Study from 2011 to 2021. Participants in the study were evaluated several times over the course of several years for cognitive impairment and their feelings of purpose.
“While there were some signs of decline in feelings of purpose in the years leading up to cognitive impairment, the decrease was more rapid after it was identified,” Ms. Sutin noted. “The impairment was identified through cognitive tasks, not a diagnosis from a health care professional. But the results are reliable because they utilise assessments over more than a decade, and the trends were replicated in both groups,” the professor added.
“Purpose may be an intervention target following cognitive impairment to maintain well-being and to reduce or slow the emergence of behavioural symptoms associated with low purpose,” the study further noted.
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