Dissemination of Cancer Survivorship Research: Background
June 16, 2004
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
Washington, DC
Background and Significance
"We are spending billions on discovery, hundreds of billions on delivery, but we spend very little trying to connect the two." Jon Kerner, Ph.D., Deputy Director for Research Dissemination and Diffusion, DCCPS/NCI/NIH
Forty-two percent of the 2003 NIH cancer survivorship research portfolio1 focuses on intervention research with cancer survivors and their families. The increasing evolution of survivorship research continues to raise the question, "what is the NCI’s role in facilitating the translation of research into practice." Recent national reports on cancer survivorship research including the Institute of Medicine’s "Childhood Cancer Survivorship,"
and the President’s Cancer Panel’s "Living Beyond Cancer: Finding a New Balance" indicated the need for evidence-based interventions to assist survivors transitioning from the diagnosis and treatment phase of cancer to post-treatment survivorship. Public and private organizations interested in advancing the cancer survivorship research agenda, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, non-profit organizations, and professional societies, have also identified the need to develop criteria for evidence-based interventions that can be disseminated at the clinical and programmatic levels.
1 Survivorship research is defined as that which focuses on the health and life of a person with a history of cancer and/or that of his or her family member, beyond the acute diagnosis and treatment phase. Studies that examined newly diagnosed survivors or those in active treatment were included in the portfolio analysis if follow-up extended at least two months or longer post-treatment.
