Reshaping Young Adult Cancer Care Through Meaningful Engagement with Young Adults & Cancer Care Allies
Reshaping Young Adult Cancer Care Through Meaningful
Engagement with Young Adults & Cancer Care Allies
Throughout 2022 – 2024, Anew co-facilitated a multitude of creative and participatory research initiatives with AYAs and care providers to: explore AYAs’ cancer care and support experiences, understand the challenges faced by care providers to provide care to AYAs, prioritize opportunities to improve care and support, and begin implementing efforts to enhance care in BC/Yukon. In addition, each year, we hosted interactive sessions with AYAs and care providers at BC Cancer’s Summit to consolidate learnings and move our collaborative agenda forward. In 2022, our session focused on identifying priorities to improve care and support for AYAs in BC/Yukon , and in 2023 we developed tangible plans for each priority and then in 2024 we shared learnings and built on efforts underway.
Examples included:
Sharing results and exploring scale-up of a pilot counselling program with BC Cancer where AYAs newly diagnosed with breast cancer had opportunity to receive AYA-focused counselling within 48 hours of diagnosis
Showcasing an AYA resources section on BC Cancer’s website co-developed with AYAs and Anew to share all AYA pertinent resources in one online location
“As a young adult, being diagnosed with cancer is very, very lonely. I just wanted to find someone I could talk with who was also young and had cancer.”
-Young adult with lived experience with cancer.
Research partners: We are grateful to Royal Roads University, Vancouver Foundation and Health Research BC and for supporting this significant research which set the foundation for our efforts going forward.
