The Advocacy Continuum
As survivors who have been there and experienced cancer personally, the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) knows that quality cancer care doesn't just happen – it takes advocacy. Advocacy, as NCCS defines it, takes place on a continuum, from speaking up for yourself to speaking up for cancer survivors everywhere. In fact, this continuum provides the framework for all the advocacy work we do.
Personal Advocacy
On one end of the continuum is personal or self-advocacy – which occurs when individual patients or their caregivers speak up personally for their individual care. NCCS has developed a range of tools and programs that support patients and their caregivers in becoming effective self-advocates and healthcare consumers. Explore NCCS's self-advocacy tools, such as the Cancer Survival Toolbox® and other publications.
Advocacy for Others
Many cancer survivors find that at some point they wish to give back to their community and help others who are going through similar experiences. Advocacy for others means speaking up at the local level – to church and civic groups, to medical students and physicians, oncology nurses, social workers, and others – about the issues that affect cancer survivors. It may also involve participating in advocacy at the local community level – becoming a mentor or navigator to other cancer patients, sitting on a local hospital review board, or hosting house parties to share cancer resources with others in your community. This type of outreach becomes a testimony that affirms one's survival, defies the myths and stigmas about cancer that are still much in evidence in our society, and perhaps reaches others who are silently struggling with similar issues. Learn how you can advocate in your own community.
Public Interest Advocacy
At the other end of the continuum is public interest advocacy, which aims to change the system for cancer care in the U.S. As a highly respected voice of survivors and caregivers in Washington, D.C., NCCS understands that public policy decisions at the federal level directly affect people with cancer and their families and the care they receive in communities nationwide. Learn more about the policy work of NCCS.
NCCS works to change cancer policy through the advocacy work of NCCS staff and through the actions of NCCS's grassroots network. Learn more about how you can get involved in public interest advocacy.
You can read more about the Advocacy Continuum in this excerpt from Advocacy: The Cornerstone of Cancer Survivorship by Elizabeth J. Clark and Ellen L. Stovall.
