How healthcare professionals can support older LGBTQ+ people living with dementia
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

How healthcare professionals can support older LGBTQ+ people living with dementia

Philip Harper Sessional lecturer, dementia specialist, University of Worcester, Worcester, England

Older lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and others (LGBTQ+) people living with dementia have specific needs related to their sexual orientation and identity that should be addressed to maintain their personhood. They may face challenges in health and social care settings, such as heteronormativity and lack of awareness of older LGBTQ+ needs. Service provision for older LGBTQ+ people with dementia is lacking. Healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards older LGBTQ+ people with dementia are often poor and there is a clear need for better training, while increased knowledge and awareness would help to challenge the concept of heteronormativity.

This article explores some of the needs of older LGBTQ+ people with dementia, the role of legislation and regulation and how healthcare professionals can provide support.

Nursing Older People. doi: 10.7748/nop.2019.e1115

Peer review

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

Correspondence

P.harper@worc.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Harper P (2019) How healthcare professionals can support older LGBTQ+ people living with dementia. Nursing Older People. doi: 10.7748/nop.2019.e1115

Published online: 03 July 2019

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