Historically, in France, cancer associations have been managed by doctors. Despite this, the French healthcare system has increasingly encouraged them to attract voluntary helpers who are not health workers. This development has given rise to the question of the competence and legitimacy of voluntary workers in cancer associations. The aim of the present study was to identify the skills possessed by voluntary helpers who have survived the disease and the extent to which their skills meet the needs of cancer associations in responding to the demands that have emerged in this new context. This is a qualitative study based on data collected during semi-directed interviews, focus group sessions and on-site observations in a variety of French cancer associations. Categorical and thematic analyses were then carried out separately for each ethnographic method used. The study showed that because the commitment of survivor voluntary helpers derives from their own experience of the disease, it is inconsistent with the fulfilment of the association's collective aims, such as the search for funding or project development. These helpers nevertheless play an important role that involves a special link between the individual and the group, between the community and society. To conclude, "involved" volunteers have to reconcile their individual expectations with the association's collective aims.

À partir d’une recherche conduite auprès d’une cinquantaine d’associations de lutte contre le cancer, appuyée par une méthode ethnographique (observations, entretiens et focus groupes), il est apparu que les bénévoles engagés dans la lutte contre le cancer sont majoritairement d’anciens malades ou des proches, ce qui pose la question de la capacité d’intervention de ces associations, les populations ciblées et l’atteinte des objectifs. Le système de santé en France incite les acteurs associatifs à s’investir dans de nouvelles missions mais ce type de profil bénévole implique un engagement qui sous-tend autant une recherche de construction identitaire qu’une réponse à une demande de service. De fait, si la dynamique d’engagement des malades et l’émergence de la démocratie sanitaire au tournant des années 2000 renforcent une volonté commune de faire lien dans la société, l’analyse des trajectoires montre des décalages entre les besoins des structures de soins et les services rendus.

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