Problem Map of Cancer Patients
When analysing our topic further we realised that our topic is still too vast. The detailed guide by Barbara Leu, a psycho oncologist, lists several thoughs, questions, concerns, fears and symptoms cancer patients and their relatives have. It is underlined with real examples and makes the situation clearly understandable.
Our Limits
We can not create a tool, that makes affected happy again or develop a pill that takes their fears magically away. Neither can we create specific solutions that solve symptoms like cancer related fatigue or hair loss. The negative emotions are also considered healthy. They belong to our life. Nevertheless it is important to look beyond them. For that the author always referes back to listening and talking. It seems that providing a helping hand is one of the most supporting things one can do in a situation like this. People confrontend with cancer have to develop a healthy handling with the disease.
What Helps
- Understand and accept your situation (own your emotions)
- Someone that is listening too you and feeling understood
- Someone that is going through it with you
- Stability in roles and environments
- Communicating wishes, problems, fears and concerns
How is health "created"?
A way to visualise this is the scheme of Aaron Antonovskys "Salutogenesis". The medical sociologist defined three key points to stay "healthy" after a
- Comprehensibility: a belief that things happen in an orderly and predictable fashion and a sense that you can understand events in your life and reasonably predict what will happen in the future.
- Manageability: a belief that you have the skills or ability, the support, the help, or the resources necessary to take care of things, and that things are manageable and within your control.
- Meaningfulness: a belief that things in life are interesting and a source of satisfaction, that things are really worthwhile and that there is good reason or purpose to care about what happens.
Our Tool
- Comprehensibility: Reflection on yourself (needs, wishes, emotions)
- Manageability: Role definition (stability, tasks)
- Meaningfulness?: Communicate (what and how)?
For a next step we will focus on the research about what helps people in difficult situations. Maybe our future tool could be a kind of mirror, that reflects the situation and life of the user.