Monica Cations

Our research is the first to examine the experiences of young people with dementia and their family members since they became eligible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme in 2016.

We found that although people living with Younger Onset Dementia (YOD) and their families feel strongly that they belong in the NDIS rather than the aged care system, they continue to face barriers to accessing the support they need in this new system. Most importantly, disability professionals lack experience and expertise with dementia care and this limits the availability of suitable services. We went on to test out a multi-component online strategy aiming to improve the skills of professionals working with people living with YOD and encourage aged and disability care professionals to work together cohesively. 

While the strategy was successful at improving collaboration and skills, our participants found it difficult to implement improvements to their services if their organisation was not supportive of the changes. The rich data provided by our participants will allow us to refine the strategy ready for trial on a wider scale, with a focus on professionals who are senior enough in their organisation to enact meaningful change.

Cations M, Day S, Laver K, Withall A, Draper B. Post-diagnosis young-onset dementia care in the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 2022;56(3):270-280. doi:10.1177/00048674211011699

Cations, M., Day, S., Laver, K., Withall, A., & Draper, B. (2021). People with young-onset dementia and their families experience distinctive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions. International Psychogeriatrics, 33(8), 839-841. doi:10.1017/S1041610221000879

At the time of award, Dr Cations was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Rehabilitation, Aged and Extended Care at Flinders University in Adelaide.