Mesothelioma: exploring psychological effects on veterans and their family caregivers

© RCN Publishing Company Limited 2023 Background Around one in eight adults over the age of 65 years in the UK is a veteran of the UK armed forces (Brewster et al 2021). A veteran is a person of any age or gender who has previously served in the armed forces, whether as a regular or a reserve member (Ministry of Defence 2022). Until leaving the armed forces, many veterans will not have lived as civilians since they reached adulthood and may therefore be unfamiliar with services such as the NHS. Older veterans may be reluctant to seek medical support because they pride themselves on their self-sufficiency (Williamson et al 2019). Veterans and their families tend to have specific needs in relation to healthcare (Hynes and Thomas 2016). Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops in the lining of the outer surface of certain body organs, mainly the lungs. It Citation Sherborne V, Tod A, Taylor B (2023) Mesothelioma: exploring psychological effects on veterans and their family caregivers. Cancer Nursing Practice. doi: 10.7748/cnp.2023.e1831