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Advocacy and adolescent/young adult cancer survivors
Author(s) -
McGoldrick Devon,
Neal Claire,
Whiteson Myrna
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
pediatric blood and cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.116
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1545-5017
pISSN - 1545-5009
DOI - 10.1002/pbc.21457
Subject(s) - psychosocial , medicine , multidisciplinary approach , psychosocial support , population , multidisciplinary team , health care , needs assessment , nursing , family medicine , psychiatry , environmental health , political science , law
Strong advocacy efforts are vital to ensuring that the unique medical, psychosocial, support and educational needs of teenagers/adolescents and young adults living with cancer are met. Advocacy groups can help bring individuals interested in change together, and provide coordinated education and support services as well as policy analysis and response. Recent improvements in services and treatment indicate the success of organised and professional advocacy in addressing the needs of teenage/adolescent and young adult survivors. The advocacy community can continue to make great advances by joining together to support worldwide recognition of the unique needs of this population, the development of specialist facilities for teenagers/adolescents and young adults, increased awareness of cancer in this population to combat delayed diagnosis and improve access and quality of care, and alleviating the challenges of working with a multidisciplinary health care team. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2008:50:1109–1111. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.