Research Background: Cancer caregivers and other carers are a niche community, particularly within education. Research has identified that quality of life may be negatively affected in carers, including mental health problems, as well as educational and employment issues, all of which are the focus of this review. Methods: Literature was identified for inclusion in the review by utilising relevant search engines, Boolean searches, and filters. Results: Findings indicate that there is a prevalence of mental health issues in carers to include cancer caregivers and that educational attainment is reduced when compared to non-caring peers. Carers also experience employment difficulties which may be attributed, in part, to reduced educational attainment. Conclusion: Initiatives suggested to address this and change the trajectory of carers to include cancer caregivers are those at an educational level, such as adapting pedagogical approaches, providing funding options for carers and opportunities to disclose they are a carer at initial application. Charities could be more involved with educational institutions to offer advice and guidance on the support needs of carers and the government could introduce policy specifically aimed at carers within education to provide consistency in the support and opportunities available to carers across the United Kingdom.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.