Iris Walraven and Cindy Verberkt recently received a KiKa grant for their research Towards more equitable survivorship care for childhood cancer survivors: The LATER-EQUITY study.
Thanks to improved treatments, more and more children in the Netherlands are surviving cancer. This group requires specialised aftercare – care that needs to be tailored to the individual, as every child has different symptoms and concerns. Survivors from families with lower incomes or lower levels of education, in particular, do not always receive the help they need. This is often because they find it difficult to understand health information. Healthcare providers also find it difficult to adapt the information they provide about aftercare to the survivor’s needs.
The LATER-EQUITY study is investigating the health inequalities that exist among survivors, the care they use and what they consider important in their aftercare. The results will be used to develop tools to support healthcare professionals in conducting appropriate discussions about aftercare. Survivors are actively involved throughout the study via a citizen science approach.