Active Living with Cancer – A Support Program for Cancer Patients and Their Families

Abstract

Diagnosis of cancer causes acute traumatic stress which becomes chronic as the disease progresses. Both patient and his/her family experience cancer as a threat to their very existence. The most frequent psychic problems caused by the diagnosis of cancer are feelings of anxiety and depression on the part of the cancer patient. Relatives and close friends frequently experience feelings of helplessness, loneliness and the inability to communicate. Despite well-documented positive results from psychosocial support measures to help the patient cope with his/her disease, comprehensive psychooncologic services are still rare in Germany. This study presents the program ‘Aktiv leben trotz Krebs’ (‘Active living with cancer’) as one way of offering psychosocial support to cancer patients and their relatives. This structured group support program is the German version of the American program ‘I can cope’. The ‘I can cope’ program is part of the standard rehabilitation measures for cancer patients and their relatives, supported and sponsored by the American Cancer Society. Initial results obtained from a German adaptation of the ‘I can cope’ program at the Cancer Center of Wurzburg University will be presented in subsequent articles.