Website connects young adults with cancer

BY BRIGITTE PETERSEN

A website that started out as a pilot project last spring is helping young adult cancer patients and survivors connect online across northwestern Ontario.

Care2talk.ca is a free online resource for cancer patients and survivors between the ages of 18 and 45. The program offers a safe online environment for people to connect with other patients and with Supportive Care services at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC). There are currently about 52 registered users.

The website, operated by the Supportive and Palliative Care department, Regional Cancer Care Northwest, was showcased at the 2010 Celebrating Innovations in Health Care Expo in Toronto last November.

With about 2.3 million cancer patients accessing information, resources and chatting online around the globe, creating a website specifically for young adults in northwestern Ontario makes sense, according to Liane Kandler, a clinical psychology PhD candidate at Lakehead University who developed the program as part of her master’s level research.

Kandler said the age range of 18 to 45 was selected because people between these ages have a lot in common: most are either working or attending school, and have children who live at home. Being able to connect with each other during or after cancer treatment can help patients deal with stress.

“When you’re a young adult who goes through your entire six months or year of cancer treatment and you never meet anybody else in your age range, that’s really isolating,” said Kandler.

Cancer patients and survivors from across the region were invited to connect with each other online, access local and online resources, and reach counsellors through a professionally facilitated group chat during a 10-week trial last spring. The program has been well received and has been added as a standard component of the Supportive and Palliative Care Program at TBRHSC.

“It’s an extension of our program in cancer care,” said Scott Sellick, director of Supportive Care at TBRHSC. “It’s a way to be more patient-centred and family-centred.”

Sellick, who has worked as a clinical psychologist for 28 years and a psycho-social oncology researcher for 19 years, said Care2talk.ca is a convenient way for cancer patients and survivors to meet online, sparing people who live in smaller communities from travelling long distances to Thunder Bay to obtain psycho-social care. Accessing services in northwestern Ontario can be challenging for young adults who are juggling family life, work, academic responsibilities and childcare.

The program, which has been nominated by Thunder Bay Regional for quality and innovation awards from the Cancer Quality Council of Ontario, is designed to help patients in the early stages of cancer treatment, as well as those who have completed treatment. The website is meant to be user friendly in order to be accessible by all levels of computer users.

The online service allows younger cancer patients to find help at their fingertips and receive support from the comfort of their homes. It also allows Supportive Care staff at the hospital to assess and re-evaluate the needs of cancer patients, while creating a helpful online environment.

Resources

Besides offering young adult cancer patients and survivors a chance to chat with each other in a safe online environment, the website offers a list of video, audio and online resources. It features a discussion forum, where members may post questions and respond to each other. A Supportive Care counsellor leads weekly online chat groups every Thursday evening.

Members are able to create their own personal profile page.


Patients must sign up in order to access the main content of the website and can share as much or as little personal information as they want.

Online discussion varies each week and covers topics such as setting future goals, spirituality and cancer, managing the effects of chemotherapy, dealing with fatigue, diet and nutrition, managing anxiety and depression, intimacy and sex. There are also open discussions about life and death.

Sellick said the program has potential to grow and could be a model for other hospital programs and services. He said he plans to start an online bereavement support group some time this year. 

Brigitte Petersen is a freelance journalist based in Thunder Bay.

www.care2talk.ca
www.tbrhsc.net/nworcc