The sociology of cancer: a decade of research

Biomedicine is often presented as the driving force behind improvements in cancer care, with genomics the latest innovation poised to change the meaning, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and lived experience of cancer. Reviewing sociological analyses of a diversity of patient and practitioner experiences and accounts of cancer during the last decade (2007–17), we explore the experiences of, approaches to and understandings of cancer in this period. We identify three key areas of focus: (i) cancer patient experiences and identities; (ii) cancer risk and responsibilities and (iii) bioclinical collectives. We explore these sociological studies of societal and biomedical developments and how sociologists have sought to influence developments in cancer identities, care and research. We end by suggesting that we extend our understanding of innovations in the fields of cancer research to take better account of these wider social and cultural innovations, together with patients, activists' and sociologists' contributions therein

Patients' perspectives on hospitalisation: Experiences from a cancer ward in Kenya

This paper explores how adult cancer in-patients feel about and make sense of their condition and therapy. Data was collected through observation and informal conversations with patients and hospital staff, over a period of 12 months, on a cancer ward in a teaching hospital in Kenya. I held in-depth conversations on multiple occasions with 42 patients. Most of them expected to recover quite fully, despite having postponed seeking medical help, and delays in referral. Long periods of suffering, prolonged diagnosis and treatment, and socio-economic difficulties shape the patients' perspectives on hospitalisation. The low position of patients in the social and medical hierarchy, and inadequate hospital resources, hamper their capacity to negotiate their care. The needs of the cancer patients can better be met when their experiences during hospitalisation are understood. This can foster co-operation between patients and hospital staff to facilitate coping with chronic illness. The patients' views highlight both material and non-material needs in cancer management in a developing country