A Patient-Centered Perspective on Cancer Survivorship

Journal of Personalized Medicine

Brad Zebrack¹ 

[1] University of Michigan School of Social Work, 1080 S University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106, USA; E-Mail

关键词: patient-centered;    survivorship;    psychosocial;    quality of life;    qualitative research;   

DOI  :  10.3390/jpm5020091

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Survivorship is a complicated notion because people often confuse a process of survivorship with a mythic identity of being a cancer survivor. This confusion may be a distraction to addressing the real-life struggles and challenges experienced by all people diagnosed with cancer. A more expansive perspective of survivorship, one that attends to patients’ physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and existential challenges throughout a continuum of care, would be more in line with what is known empirically about people’s experiences with cancer. In an effort to gain a patient-centered perspective on cancer, and one that emphasizes multiple dimensions of cancer survivorship, the author reports findings from a non-scientific social media poll (via Facebook and personal emails) in which survivors and colleagues working in the field of cancer survivorship answered the question: What does cancer survivorship mean to you? The comments are enlightening and useful for guiding the development of a patient-centered, and, thus, more comprehensive, approach to caring for people affected by cancer.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.