About the Toolkit
The content of this toolkit is based on the experiences of cancer survivors (patients, their families and friends). The term cancer survivor in this context describes anyone affected by cancer, at any stage in their cancer journey.
Cancer survivors can offer support that hospitals may not be able to. This is because cancer survivors have lived with cancer and its effects in their everyday life.
How the Toolkit Was Made
Patient education resources are often produced by health care providers and tend to focus on medical care. However, cancer affects all areas of a person’s life, during and after treatment.
To bridge the gap between hospital and home, we asked cancer survivors what helped them cope. Cancer survivors responded in-person and online. Their feedback was sorted into the sections listed above.
- To learn from cancer survivors, the sections were used to design sessions at a public engagement event for cancer survivors. Cancer survivors were asked to join the section they could add the most value to.
- Based on the topic of their session, survivors discussed problems they had and what they did to overcome them.
- Staff observed and recorded the sessions and drafted these pages based on what survivors shared.
- The content in these pages was reviewed by survivors who attended the event. This review ensured that the information the survivors wanted to share was captured in order to help others.
Sample feedback from participants who reviewed:
“This is great! You definitely captured everything we talked about including all the subtle nuances and passing remarks. Great job!”
“I appreciate the opportunity to review the draft. More so I appreciate that what we said in our session, WAS HEARD! I feel that this definitely summarizes our group’s contribution.”
