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Stefania Vallone
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MS 19 - Elevating the Lung Cancer Voice: Raising Awareness and Creating Community (ID 541)
- Event: WCLC 2017
- Type: Mini Symposium
- Track: Patient Advocacy
- Presentations: 1
- Moderators:Toshiyuki Sawa, A.C. Škufca Smrdel
- Coordinates: 10/17/2017, 15:45 - 17:30, Room 315
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MS 19.05 - "How to Beauty Your Day": Looking Good, Feeling Better - An Italian Approach (ID 7736)
17:05 - 17:25 | Presenting Author(s): Stefania Vallone
- Abstract
- Presentation
Abstract:
It is estimated that in 2015, approximately 3 million people in Italy have received a cancer diagnosis during their lifetime. While in men cancer has decreased of 2.5%, in women the cases have risen from 168,000 to 176,000. Epidemiological data of lung cancer reveal a dramatic increase of the incidence and mortality in women, mainly due to the tobacco consumption in the female population during the past 60 years and since the 1980s, the gap between the two genders has narrowed. Nowadays lung cancer represents a global women’s health issue and every year more women die due to lung cancer than for breast, ovarian and uterine cancer all together and receiving a cancer diagnosis together with the communication about treatment and care can lead to a series of extremely stressful and frightening events that cause both patients and their relatives to suffer emotionally. Psychological distress, depression and anxiety are related to poor quality of life in all its shapes and forms, including the physical-side. The disease and the treatments alter the patient body image and consequently change the personal identity; the body is no longer recognized and accepted in its new condition, and this may undercut the sense of femininity and diminish the confidence in the physical appearance and the self-esteem. It gets difficult for a woman to face the daily life because she is exposed to the external world with a body revealing visible signs of the illness and care. For addressing these issues, it is necessary to implement an holistic approach and this is one of the objectives behind the active commitment of WALCE (Women Against Lung Cancer in Europe) since 2006, when it was established. In 2009, it started the collaboration with “La forza e il sorriso – L.G.F.B. Italia”, the Italian version of a well-known program called “Look Good ... Feel Better®”, launched in US in 1989 and currently active in 26 countries worldwide. It is a free make-up workshop project for women diagnosed with cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy or other cancer treatments. Beauty workshops are offered to help women to cope with treatment side effects and to regain the femininity and the self-confidence in their body with the aim to improve their quality of life by simple beauty techniques to enhance the appearance. Following this positive experience, WALCE designed a lung cancer awareness campaign, called: “How to beauty your day”, a make-up session program for women of all ages affected by cancer with the aim to reach little and peripheral hospitals in Italy, where the initiative “La forza e il sorriso” has not been provided yet and hospitals, where no general support programs for women with cancer have been developed. This initiative was launched in November 2010, during the World Lung Cancer Awareness Month and in some way it recalls the other one, but with some new addition. Together with the beauty sessions, educational events are organized with the aim to improve and reinforce the knowledge of people about the disease, the current treatment options, the side effects and any other related issues. This program was firstly carried out just in Italy and later on, it was expanded in other European countries (Spain, Serbia and Greece). From November 2010 to November 2016, WALCE organized 76 make-up workshops in several Italian locations and in Europe, in collaboration both with cancer centres and no profit organizations working in these areas; about 750 ladies attended the make-up workshops, guided by 7 voluntary beauticians and with the support of a psycho-oncologist. At the end of the session, the women are invited to complete a survey to assess the event and benefits received. The general response received until now is positive; most of participants declare to have learnt useful advice and to be very enthusiastic, whereas very few are a little doubtful. The most common adjectives used to describe patient feelings at the end of the experience are: beautiful, happy, positive, pretty and attractive. From the survey results, it seems that most of the ladies don’t think about the illness during the event and meeting other women in a similar situation is considered a positive experience. Cancer patients tend to better cope with the illness when self-confidence and self-esteem are regained. The sense of well-being shared in a relaxed atmosphere, acknowledging social, emotional and psychological needs and being amongst other ladies who feel the same fears or anxieties, has proven to be an incentive to fight against cancer. Figure 1 Pikler VI, Brown C: Cancer Patients’ and Partners’ Psychological Distress and Quality of Life: Influence of Gender Role. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 28:43–60, 2010 Honda K, Goodwin R: Cancer and mental disorders in a national community sample: Findings from the national comorbidity survey. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 73: 235–242, 2004 Tuinstra J, Hagedoorn M, Van Sonderen E et al: Psychological distress in couples dealing with colorectal cancer: Gender and role differences and intracouple correspondence. British Journal of Health Psychology, 9: 465–478, 2004 Fife B, Kennedy V, Robinson L: Gender and adjustment to cancer: Clinical implications. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 12: 1–21, 1994 Phillips C: Images, femininity and cancer: an analysis of an international patient education programme. Health, 13: 67, 2009
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