There is a cost when we just treat the physical body for cancer. Its impact touches a patient on every level therefore, so must our treatment plans.
See You at the Summit has collected data with each trip. Recently, our 2019 results were published in the feasibility study from our inaugural trip in 2019. If you are into research…. please enjoy!
Program evaluation of a wilderness experience for adolescents facing cancer: A time in nature to heal, connect and find strength
Changing the numbers by changing lives
Our long term goals center around improving the quality of life and survivorship experience for adolescents diagnosed with cancer.
Teenagers diagnosed with cancer receive their diagnosis and treatment at a critical stage in their psychosocial development. Our teenage participant has had their home life and social life disrupted, their vision for their future altered, and their normal adolescent experience halted. Cancer isolates these teens, interrupting the acquisition of self-esteem, relationship development with their peers, and mastery of independence. This population, furthermore, receives limited services to address this developmental interruption, and the results are evident. According to the CDC, Oregon has among the highest rates of pediatric cancer in the country[1]. Adolescents diagnosed with cancer are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide[2], and 30% more likely to suffer from lifelong depression or anxiety[3]. Programs directed at this population of teenagers to address these issues after cancer treatment are sorely lacking.
Our work fills the gap in age-appropriate programming at the time of crisis. The SYATS curriculum was developed specifically for teenagers, drawing from the most current research in the field.
Along with others, we aim to establish a developmentally appropriate standard of care in adolescent cancer treatment with an eye to preventing or reversing these dangerous conditions.
See You at the Summit also partnered with MidSweden University and UCSF Benioff researchers to produce a scoping review of the existing research on the adolescent oncology population.
[1]https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6725a2.htm
[2]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10826468
[3]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23650425