Open AccessFamily-Focused Preventive Interventions With Cancer Cosurvivors: A Call to Action
Author(s) -
Mika Niemelä,
Catherine Marshall,
Thilo Kroll,
Melissa A. Curran,
Susan Silverberg Kœrner,
Sarni Rasanen,
Francisco García
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2016.303178
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , public health , context (archaeology) , action (physics) , nexus (standard) , stressor , health promotion , medicine , meaning (existential) , gerontology , psychology , environmental health , nursing , psychiatry , psychotherapist , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , biology , embedded system
Health promotion and preventive action in the context of public health interventions for highly prevalent, long-term conditions such as cancer are rarely geared toward the family as a whole. Yet family members, as cancer cosurvivors, must manage their own substantial stress and multiple caregiving responsibilities and often constitute a critical nexus between individual patients and clinicians. We drew on 2 examples of cancer cosurvivorship from 2 different health service contexts, the United States and Finland. A systemic approach in public health is needed to support family members who not only have to confront the meaning of long-term conditions such as cancer but also may have to manage concurrent social life challenges and stressors such as economic hardship.