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Lessons Learned from the Young Breast Cancer Survivorship Network

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Abstract

The Young Breast Cancer Survivors Network (Network) is an academic and community-based partnership dedicated to education, support, and networking. The Network used a multi-pronged approach via monthly support and networking, annual education seminars, website networking, and individual survivor consultation. Formative and summative evaluations were conducted using group survey and individual survivor interviews for monthly gatherings, annual education meetings, and individual consultation. Google Analytics was applied to evaluate website use. The Network began with 4 initial partnerships and grew to 38 in the period from 2011 to 2017. During this 5-year period, 5 annual meetings (598 attendees), 23 support and networking meetings (373), and 115 individual survivor consultations were conducted. The Network website had nearly 12,000 individual users and more than 25,000 page views. Lessons learned include active community engagement, survivor empowerment, capacity building, social media outreach, and network sustainability. The 5-year experiences with the Network demonstrated that a regional program dedicated to the education, support, networking, and needs of young breast cancer survivors and their families can become a vital part of cancer survivorship services in a community. Strong community support, engagement, and encouragement were vital components to sustain the program.

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Acknowledgements

The Network would like to acknowledge the following individuals for their valuable contribution: Rachel Benz MSN, RN; Yu-Mei Schoenberger PhD; Ann Wooten RN; and the Young Breast Cancer Survivors Network’s staff.

Funding

This paper was supported by the Women’s Breast Health Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Medical Towers Room 415A, 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294-1210, USA

    Silvia Gisiger-Camata, Jacqueline B. Vo & Karen Meneses

  2. College of Nursing, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Timiya S. Nolan

  3. Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Jennifer R. Bail

  4. Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Kayla A. Lewis

  5. Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Karen Meneses

Authors
  1. Silvia Gisiger-Camata
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  2. Timiya S. Nolan
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  3. Jacqueline B. Vo
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  4. Jennifer R. Bail
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  5. Kayla A. Lewis
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  6. Karen Meneses
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Correspondence to Silvia Gisiger-Camata.

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Gisiger-Camata, S., Nolan, T.S., Vo, J.B. et al. Lessons Learned from the Young Breast Cancer Survivorship Network. J Canc Educ 34, 304–308 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-017-1302-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-017-1302-8

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