Providing cancer treatment and care to people living with cancer and dementia: challenges and research-based recommendations
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Providing cancer treatment and care to people living with cancer and dementia: challenges and research-based recommendations

Rachael Kelley Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Dementia Research, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, England
Claire Surr Professor, Centre for Dementia Research, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, England
Alys Griffiths Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Dementia Research, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, England
Laura Ashley Reader, Leeds School of Social Sciences, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, England
Amanda Procter Centre Head, Maggie’s Leeds, Leeds, England

Why you should read this article
  • To learn about the emerging UK evidence base on cancer and dementia

  • To increase your awareness of challenges experienced by people with dementia in accessing cancer care

  • To source strategies for reducing complications created by dementia in all aspects of cancer care

A growing number of people live with cancer and dementia. Dementia creates a particular set of challenges in all aspects of cancer treatment and care, including diagnosis, decision-making, access to appointments, monitoring of signs and symptoms of cancer and side effects of cancer treatment, and management of self-care tasks. People with cancer and dementia often require extensive support from family carers, and those without family support face additional challenges. This article uses the emerging UK evidence base on cancer and dementia to discuss the challenges that arise when providing cancer treatment and care to people with dementia and their families, and to make research-based recommendations on how to improve service provision for that population.

Cancer Nursing Practice. doi: 10.7748/cnp.2021.e1754

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

@kelley_rach

Correspondence

r.kelley@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Kelley R, Surr C, Griffiths A et al (2021) Providing cancer treatment and care to people living with cancer and dementia: challenges and research-based recommendations. Cancer Nursing Practice. doi: 10.7748/cnp.2021.e1754

Published online: 15 February 2021

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