Cancer therapy for some
Book: Everyone's Guide еo Cancer Therapy
, 2nd Ed
Authors: Malin Dollinger, Ernest H. Rosenbaum, Greg Cable
Editor: Richard Hasselback
Somerville House Books limited, 3080 Yonge St, Suite 5000, Toronto, ON M4N 3N1
1995, 706 pp
Overall Rating
Good
Strengths
A good overview of cancer care for health professionals from a psychosocial, technical, and medical perspective. Forty-seven common cancers are concisely described in the last part of the book
Weaknesses
Content varies greatly in technical complexity, making it difficult reading for general readers. The book implies that it is accessible to everyone but remains a resource for health professionals
Audience
Health professionals, including family physicians, nurses, interns, residents, and medical students. Those very knowledgeable in health science could be a secondary audience
I anticipated the opportunity to read this book because of my clinical care of people living with cancer, and more recently, my contact with family members living with cancer.
The book is divided into five parts: diagnosis and treatment; supportive care; quality of life; new advances in research, risk assessment, diagnosis, and treatment; and treating common cancers. At the end, there is a glossary, a section on common anticancer drugs, a directory of resources, and a list of suggested readings.
The title is popular and eye-catching. An authoritative book that provides information on the diagnosis, treatment, and management of cancer for a wide audience is very appealing. After a thorough review and careful analysis, I faced the conundrum of determining who would be able to access and benefit from this book. After my review, it was clear that only parts of this book are accessible to everyone.
Authors and editors of medical review books face a difficult task when they seek to address technical, medical, psychological, social, and other components in the same book. The challenge is more daunting when the book targets a diverse audience, including patients and health professionals. These types of books must be concerned about being accessible and understandable. Overall, this book variés greatly in the quantity of complex technical and medical content contained in its chapters. Parts II, III, and the directory of resources will be valuable to patients living with cancer, their families, and their friends. However, the more technical and cancer-specific chapters in parts I, IV, and V are best suited to health professionals.
I wanted to validate this assessment by asking a family member with cancer to review chapters of the book. This woman has been living with cancer for more than 5 years and has been actively involved in her care and learning about cancer since her diagnosis. She concluded that chapters in parts II and III were mainly understandable, with some exceptions. The chapters in parts IV and V were not. The cancer-specific chapters in part V were the most difficult
She concluded that too much inaccessible information in this book made it unsuitable for either everyone or every patient. In her opinion, books targeted to include patients in their readership have an obligation to be comprehensible. A book that cannot be understood by patients lessens their confidence in learning and participating in their care and makes them more fearful of their disease.
I respect the good intentions of the authors who wrote this book and the Canadian editor who adapted it. However, the title is a disservice to most readers. If this book was intended to inform and educate patients living with cancer, their families and Mends, the authors would have benefited by integrating members of this audience into the development and review process.
As a physician, I enjoyed reading the chapters in the first four parts. They provided a quick overview of cancer diagnosis, treatment, and the issues related to the holistic care of patients living with cancer. Part V, treating common cancers, was a concise, well organized source of information on risk factors, screening, presenting signs and symptoms, diagnostic tests, disease classification and staging, and treatment. For health care professionals, there is sufficient psychosocial, technical, and medical information to make the book worthwhile. Further, part V can serve as a concise clinical reference. This information will help physicians coordinate the care of their patients living with cancer.
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