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Call for papers - Living at home with dementia

Guest Editors:
Patrick Kor: Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Monica Leverton: King's College London, United Kingdom

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 1 December 2023


BMC Geriatrics is calling for submissions to our Collection on Living at home with dementia. Living at home is often the preferred choice for people diagnosed with dementia and their family members. As the disease progresses, the cognitive, behavioural, and psychological functioning of people living with dementia will gradually decline. This can impact their ability to care for themselves, and to stay safe at home. This collection aims to identify mechanisms of support for people with dementia to remain living in their own homes.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Patrick Kor: Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Dr Patrick KOR is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Before working in PolyU, he worked in various clinical settings including intensive care unit, geriatric unit serving the older people.  His research interests include dementia care and family caregivers support.


Monica Leverton: King's College London, United Kingdom                                                                                                                             
Dr Monica Leverton is a post-doctoral researcher at the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health & Social Care Workforce at King’s College London. She uses qualitative methods to explore and understand research priorities around the health and social care needs of both care recipients and care providers. Her area of expertise is dementia care, focusing on care and support for people living with dementia at home.

About the collection

BMC Geriatrics  is calling for submissions to our Collection on Living at home with dementia. 

The World Health Organisation states that more than 55 million people live with dementia worldwide, with nearly 10 million new cases reported every year.  Whilst dementia can occur in younger populations, it is more commonly associated with older people, but it is not an inherent consequence of aging.  It remains one of the major causes of disability and dependency amongst older people.

Living at home is often the preferred choice for people diagnosed with dementia and their family members. As the disease progresses, the cognitive, behavioural, and psychological functioning of people living with dementia will gradually decline. This can impact their ability to care for themselves, and to stay safe at home. Consequently, more support is needed from family, friends, and/or care providers to support the person to remain living at home. However, the symptoms of dementia, such as wandering and agitation, can result in a high level of stress among paid and unpaid caregivers. Breakdowns in care often result in a move to a more costly residential care or nursing home facility.

This collection aims to identify mechanisms of support for people with dementia to remain living in their own homes.  We are interested in evidence pertaining to a wide variety of aspects, with key topics including, but not limited to:  

Physical factors, such as solutions to prevent malnutrition, incontinence, difficulties sleeping and increased risk of falls.

Psychological factors, such as solutions to target agitation, depression, social isolation, loss of independence, behavioural changes, and caregiver's burden.  

Social and economic factors, such as interventions to increase social participation and activities, support for paid and unpaid caregivers, evidence for cost effectiveness of supporting people with dementia to live at home, and government policy or legislation on supporting people living at home with dementia.  

We also welcome research that addresses the question ‘Why is living at home the preferred choice for people living with dementia and their family members?’

To explore these topics, this collection welcomes a wide variety of study types including clinical research, epidemiological studies, intervention and implementation research, systematic reviews of the current evidence base, and qualitative studies.  

Dementia has been recognised as a public health priority.  It is imperative that we advance our knowledge of the issue and key mechanisms of support for people living with dementia and those around them. 

Image Credit: Â© e_serebryakova / stock.adobe.com

There are currently no articles in this collection.

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Living at Home with Dementia" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.