The Implementation of a Cancer Surveillance Technical Group Based on Health Advocacy

Abstract

Objective: To describe the process of implementing a cancer surveillance technical group based on the health advocacy framework. Method: Convergent Care Research addressing 11 representatives of the support and governance system of the healthcare network in a town in Santa Catarina, Brazil. Data were collected from June 2020 to July 2021 in online meetings called convergence groups. The analysis followed the apprehension, synthesis, theorization, and transference steps. Results: The motivations for creating the group included the town’s cancer epidemiological context, the need to meet the annual health program, and the professionals’ duties in this context. Based on the advocacy framework, the group associated the implementation process with concepts such as integrality, humanization, and professional practice in health. Along this path, strategies were acknowledged and supported the group, such as the establishment and appropriation of philosophical and theoretical bases, in addition to actions such as creating a statute, planning activities, developing instruments, and identifying priorities to implement tasks effectively. Conclusion: Knowledge was exchanged, and a process for providing integral and equitable healthcare in cancer surveillance was developed collectively. Hence, advocacy proved to be a theoretical pillar for the political action of the technical group’s members, translating practice into patient rights advocacy.