In a post for Cancer Knowledge Network that I wrote back in November, I talked about the challenges involved in the transition from pediatric to adult healthcare, and the need for more support and education to be provided to teens and young adults to be able to successfully get through this transition. In the last couple of months, I have gotten to wondering what, above all other obstacles, is the most important thing to help get young people to feel comfortable taking charge of their own care? After talking with some other young adult cancer survivor friends, and some friends of mine who have chronic illnesses, one topic repeatedly came up in the discussion about transitioning to adult healthcare: self-advocacy.
So, what exactly is self-advocacy?
According to the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, self-advocacy means: “…You arm yourself with the tools and skills necessary to feel comfortable about asserting yourself and communicating clearly about your cancer care needs.” They also summarize that the skills necessary for self-advocacy include: information seeking skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills, and negotiation skills.
Through further research, I also found that perspective can play a role in enabling or disabling you from successfully advocating for yourself. I came upon an article about self-advocacy by a psychologist, who is herself a cancer survivor, in the online magazine Psychology Today. One statement she made that really stood out to me said that many patients “…may find it difficult to question someone they perceive as authority figures who control their destiny. They may fear asking “dumb” questions or alienating their doctors by questioning them.” This highlights a perspective that I know, from my own experience, seems to be at the heart of helping teens and young adults become self-advocates: learning that your doctors are not controlling authority figures and that there are no “dumb” questions.
To summarize, it seems there are 3 crucial pieces to this self-advocacy puzzle: (1) Developing a range of skills that enable you to feel confident in your ability to clearly communicate your needs, (2) recognizing that your doctors are not authority figures with control over your future, and (3) it’s your body and your health, so you are entitled to ask any question at all – there is no such thing as a “dumb” question.
Seeing as this is a pretty complicated puzzle, I thought I’d take some time to break it down. In my next few posts, I’ll cover each of these puzzle pieces, to try to make it easier for teenage and young adult cancer patients or survivors to piece together the necessities for becoming self-advocates.
So, what exactly is self-advocacy?
According to the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, self-advocacy means: “…You arm yourself with the tools and skills necessary to feel comfortable about asserting yourself and communicating clearly about your cancer care needs.” They also summarize that the skills necessary for self-advocacy include: information seeking skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills, and negotiation skills.
Through further research, I also found that perspective can play a role in enabling or disabling you from successfully advocating for yourself. I came upon an article about self-advocacy by a psychologist, who is herself a cancer survivor, in the online magazine Psychology Today. One statement she made that really stood out to me said that many patients “…may find it difficult to question someone they perceive as authority figures who control their destiny. They may fear asking “dumb” questions or alienating their doctors by questioning them.” This highlights a perspective that I know, from my own experience, seems to be at the heart of helping teens and young adults become self-advocates: learning that your doctors are not controlling authority figures and that there are no “dumb” questions.
To summarize, it seems there are 3 crucial pieces to this self-advocacy puzzle: (1) Developing a range of skills that enable you to feel confident in your ability to clearly communicate your needs, (2) recognizing that your doctors are not authority figures with control over your future, and (3) it’s your body and your health, so you are entitled to ask any question at all – there is no such thing as a “dumb” question.
Seeing as this is a pretty complicated puzzle, I thought I’d take some time to break it down. In my next few posts, I’ll cover each of these puzzle pieces, to try to make it easier for teenage and young adult cancer patients or survivors to piece together the necessities for becoming self-advocates.
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