title: Awareness and advocacy for adolescents and young adults with cancer.
abstract: Increasing the awareness of the clinical and psychosocial needs that are particular to adolescents and young adults (AYA) was a top priority, as was strengthening advocacy efforts to empower and support this group. To date, AYA advocates had some success in generating public awareness and building a solid clinical justification for increased focus on this population. It had been established that the economic burden of their mortality was significant, their cancers were unusual, their medical care was often inadequate, and their outcomes for many cancers had not improved in the past 3 decades. As the awareness and advocacy campaign continued to grow and evolve across the globe, it was an important goal to integrate the efforts of all stakeholders to ensure that it progressed with a single, consensual, focused message identifying a common priority for action. By coordinating the efforts of the scientific, medical, and advocacy communities, it was possible to amplify their separate efforts and activities and more efficiently achieve large-scale change in the world of AYA oncology.
authors.affiliation: LiveStrong, Austin, Texas 78702, USA. devon.mcgoldrick@livestrong.org
authors.forename: Devon
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McGoldrick
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: Myrna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Whiteson
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sutcliffe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002170:Canada; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006292:Health Priorities; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D055815:Young Adult