Improving psychosocial experience for young people with cancer from the Global Majority and their loved ones

We, the North Star Cancer Collective, are delighted to have been awarded with one of Macmillan’s inaugural CARE (Culture, Agency, Respect and Equity) grants. These are designed to fund projects that make a difference to the wider cancer landscape with a strong focus on equity and areas currently lacking focused work

The evidence:

Evidence shows that people from the Global Majority face poorer wellbeing and have higher unmet psychosocial support needs when going through cancer.

Our aim:

To improve the psychosocial experience of Global Majority young people (18-25) and their loved ones when going through cancer by implementing a culturally responsive tested resource or approach that has been co-designed by the community.

To build stronger partnerships and relationships with people from the Global Majority, community leaders and organisations that last beyond this specific project. We will also have a stronger understanding of the experiences and disparities in care that young people from the Global Majority face.

Project Summary:

With funding from Macmillan, we will recruit a Community Engagement Practitioner to work alongside Global Majority young adults, families, community groups, practitioners and NHS partners to co-design and test new, culturally responsive ways of operating which better support the mental health and well-being of young cancer patients from the Global Majority. This project will be based in London initially, with the aim to take the learnings from carrying out this work and apply to future projects in other locations.

The Community Engagement Practitioner will build trusted relationships and support community-led relationship building, listening and power sharing. They will work closely with Young Lives vs Cancer service teams, to understand the areas they have identified through daily practice and use that insight alongside that of those affected by cancer to start to map out the biggest disparities in experience, and where tailored care will make the biggest difference to people from the Global Majority.

Practical service changes will be developed and piloted using test and learn methodology. Everything will be codesigned with people from the Global Majority who have been affected by cancer, ensuring that the themes of culturally responsive interventions and shared decision making are being met. The project will ensure that Global Majority young adults have a real voice and influence in shaping the care they receive and the wider work of the North Star Cancer Collective. We expect to see greater confidence and choice in decision-making, more positive experiences of cancer care for young people and their families and a sense of feeling listened to. We will also seek to strengthen our measurement of well-being to understand the longer-term impact of changes made.

At a system level, we will build embed learning across six national charities (the North Star Cancer Collective members) and our NHS partners, creating more equitable, inclusive and culturally responsive cancer care for young adults across the UK.