Living with cancer and going through treatment is a traumatic experience, both psychologically, emotionally, physically, and financially. This is the case regardless of the result. People often set metrics to measure their chances of a positive outcome and historically language has focused on a willingness to ‘battle’ or ‘fight cancer’. Metaphors using aggressive language go back hundreds of years. Even now HCPs frame cancer as ‘the enemy’ and treatments as targets to fight them (often done to maximise patient understanding). Governments can also play their part; in 1971 the US government declared a ‘War on Cancer’. Winning or losing has become a cultural narrative that we seem to all understand and accept. But should this terminology continue to be the norm? Does it meaningfully support patients in a way that feels both motivational, meaningful and sensitive? No. The binary story of win vs loss, success vs failure fails to speak to the nuances of a cancer journey and creates an unacceptable idea that those whose cancer comes back or spreads as somehow being ‘less than’ or who didn’t try hard enough to overcome it. It is a lumbering, unsophisticated tool that makes it easy to set rules around who deserves praise and who does not. The idea of failure and ‘justifiable blame’ is also found in religion and wellness cultures and can seek to either apportion divine judgment or demonstrate that a strong positive commitment to ‘wellness’ will naturally lead to better outcomes and even explain the origins of the illness. The Canadian academic, Kate Bowler, (who was given a Stage IV colon cancer diagnosis) spoke with Matthew Syed, Dr Stephanie Alice Baker, Professor of Sociology at City St George’s, University of London and social psychologist Pr Batja Mesquita, from Leuven University in the BBC podcast ‘Good Vibes Only’ “Sometimes adversity strikes in a way that you can’t anticipate and can’t easily change … but if you believe a positive attitude inevitably produces a successful life there is a cruel suggestion that there is something wrong with your attitude when things go badly wrong” Matthew Syed “Many of the people around Kate instinctively want to turn her experience into something positive, useful, so Kate finds herself concealing what she is going through. I felt like I was in a reality show about a woman who gets cancer, but she is grateful about it. It just felt intolerable to do anything else”. Kate Bowler and Matthew Syed “…there is this kind of darker thing that can take hold when you are trying desperately to live is that you sort of start to believe that you can outperform a devastating illness” – If only you believed sufficiently, if only you showed more positivity, you would be cured of whatever isn’t right in your life. And perhaps the idea that believing a bit more strongly over something is a good thing…but it is the same logic that tells you that if the treatment fails that maybe your belief isn’t strong enough.” Kate Bowler and Matthew Syed Such judgements can drive feelings of failure, loneliness and rejection and result in people trying to play along and do what is culturally or socially expected rather than living their authentic truth. Intentionally or not, this approach adds insult to injury and adds layers of complication and suffering to a patient experience that deserves nothing but the best emotional and social support. There has been a more recent shift away from aggressive terminology, such as Macmillan Cancer Support in the UK, who acknowledge that not everyone can beat cancer and avoids implying that outcomes depend on effort and positivity. However, this is not always the case. International groups such as Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) use phrases in their messaging like “Together we will beat cancer”, whilst the American Cancer Society also speaks about the need to “Fight Back”, or “Finish the Fight”. Brands and manufacturers in the US more specifically, have continued to strongly leverage the ‘fighting the battle’ narrative in recent years. At HRW, we leverage our rich oncology expertise to understand the real patient experience. We understand the power of language (what is said, and what is implied) and work with our in-house behavioural science team to ensure we access those deeper, more authentic beliefs in order that patients are not defined by the fighting framework that we understand, but by the truth they live by. Defining what the right dialogue looks like between a brand and its patients is a foundation to truly speaking in a language that your patients want to understand. To find out more and to speak to our Patient Research team, Patient Panorama, fill in the Contact form below. Apply Now!