Supporting Family Caregivers’ Clinical Communication Skills: Adapting a Cancer Caregiver Communication Model for Dementia Caregiving

Background: Psychosocial support that enhances caregivers’ clinical communication skills can alleviate distress while enhancing their ability to communicate with nurses and clinical teams to achieve care goals. We sought to adapt a cancer caregiver clinical communication model (C3PM-Cancer) for dementia spousal caregivers that identifies key communication strategies they can enact before, during, after, and between appointments to promote better care. Methods: Interviews were conducted with caregivers of spouses diagnosed with dementia within the last 10 years. Data were thematically analyzed to confirm and extend the communication strategies and care goals in C3PM-Cancer to develop C3PM-Dementia. Results: Caregivers for spouses with dementia in our sample reported the same strategies and goals in each communication phase of C3PM-Cancer, which provides support for the utility of these caregiving communication skills across these two disease contexts. They described the importance of new communication strategies, which informed an emotionally focused communication approach used to protect their spouse’s personhood and dignity. The findings inform the adapted C3PM-Dementia. Conclusions: C3PM-Dementia can be an educational tool offered by clinicians to caregivers to provide guidance on key communication strategies to enact before, during, after, and between appointments to achieve critical care goals. The model can enhance communication between caregivers and clinicians, which can promote better outcomes in both cancer and dementia care.