Defining cancer survivorship: a more transparent approach is needed

Abstract

The use of the term 'cancer survivor', its acceptability and its interpretation amongst people living past a cancer diagnosis and primary treatment is relatively understudied. There may be numerous interpretations of cancer survivorship amongst people living past cancer, and some individuals may not relate to the term. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Instead of working towards a universal definition of cancer survivorship, we suggest that researchers and policy makers use operational descriptions when discussing the diverse population of people living past a cancer diagnosis.

Cancer survivorship: Advancing the concept in the context of colorectal cancer

“…In cancer survivorship, there is a glaring disparity in the definition of who constitutes a cancer survivor, with different regions and organisations advocating for definitions beginning 1) at diagnosis, 2) after the end of treatment, or 3) after a specified time has elapsed where the individual remains disease free (Khan et al, 2012;Leigh, 2007;Reuben, 2004;Rowland et al, 2013). Other considerations in the definition of cancer survivorship are the inclusion or exclusion of individuals who are terminally ill (Khan et al, 2012) and survivors' family members and friends (Feuerstein, 2007;Leigh, 2007). Furthermore, Hebdon et al (2015) delineated a difference between cancer 'survivor' and 'survivorship'.…”

Reconceptualizing Cancer Survivorship Through Veterans’ Lived Experiences

“…Health care services that address the specific needs of survivors are severely lacking, and this issue is compounded by the variability of cancer illness experiences (Institute of Medicine, 2005;Khan, Rose, & Evans, 2012). For example, patients may need mental health interventions to help them cope with fears that their cancer may someday return (Herschbach et al, 2010;Humphris & Ozakinci, 2008) or psychoeducational interventions to learn skills to manage fatigue (Stanton et al, 2005) and changes to one's sexual health (Brotto et al, 2008).…”

“…Survivorship research emerged to better articulate this experience and offer appropriate care to meet patients' individual needs (Aziz & Rowland, 2003). However, there remain ongoing debates concerning how to accurately conceptualize cancer survival (Bell & Ristovski-Slijepcevic, 2013;Feuerstein, 2007;Khan et al, 2012). Often these differences boil down to issues concerning terminology: who are cancer survivors and what is survivorship?…”

“…Survivorship is conceptualized as a phase from "post-treatment until the end of life" (National Cancer Institute, 2013) whereas survivors are individual persons experiencing the illness (Bell & Ristovski-Slijepcevic, 2013). Second, disagreements remain about when the actual survivorship phase begins complicated by the changing nature of cancer diagnosis and treatment (Khan et al, 2012). Third, not everyone who survives cancer considers themselves survivors as the term implies (Jagielski, Hawley, Corbin, Weiss, & Griggs, 2012;Kaiser, 2008;Pieters & Heilemann, 2011).…”

“…Furthermore, the terms survivor and survivorship have been conceptualized so broadly that the diverse biopsychosocial variability of how patients' articulate their individual cancer experiences is noticeably absent (Bell & Ristovski-Slijepcevic, 2013;Khan et al, 2012). What then can we glean from such broad definitions that is truly clinically meaningful?…”