Who Survives Cancer? / Howard P. Greenwald.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Greenwald, Howard P., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Anthropology.

Cancer--Patients.

Cancer.

Cancer--Prognosis.

Cancer--Psychological aspects.

Cancer--Social aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (305 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [1992]

Summary:

Howard P. Greenwald takes an incisive look at how class, race, sex, psychological state, type of health care, and available treatments affect one's chance of surviving cancer. Drawing on a ten-year survival study of cancer patients, he synthesizes medical, epidemiological, and psychosocial research in a uniquely interdisciplinary and eye-opening approach to the question of who survives cancer and why. Scientists, health care professionals, philanthropists, government agencies, and the public all agree that significant resources must be allocated to fight this dreaded disease. But what is the most effective way to do it? Greenwald argues that our priorities have been misplaced and calls for a fundamental rethinking of the way the American medical establishment deals with cancer. He asserts that prevention and experimental therapy have only limited value, whereas the availability of conventional medical care has a greater influence on cancer survival. Class and race become strikingly significant in predicting who has access to health care and thus can obtain medical treatment in a timely, effective manner. Greenwald counters the popular notion that personality and psychological factors strongly affect survival, and he underscores the importance of early detection. His research shows that health maintenance organizations, while sometimes prone to delays, offer low-income patients a better chance of ultimate survival. Greenwald pleads for immediate attention to the inadequacies and inequalities in our health care delivery system that deter patients from seeking early medical care. Instead of focusing on research and the hope for a breakthrough cure, Greenwald urges renewed emphasis on ensuring available health care to all Americans. In its challenge to the thrust of much biomedical research and its critique of contemporary American health

care, as well as in its fresh and often counterintuitive look at cancer survival, Who Survives Cancer? is invaluable for policymakers, health care professionals, and anyone who has survived or been touched by cancer. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1992.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

1. The Problem and its Context

A Disease of Our Times

The Availability of Care

Personal Choice and Avoidable Mortality

2. The Disease and Its Survivors

Cancer: A Complex Phenomenon

The "Cure" for Cancer: Defining an Elusive Goal

Beyond Science: The Quality of Life

3. Cancer Treatment: The Industry of Hope

The Practice of Conventional Care

Experimental Therapy

Alternative Cures

The World of Cancer Science

4. Can Cancer Be Prevented?

Exogenous Causes of Cancer: Opportunities for Prevention

Endogenous Causes of Cancer

The Limits of Cancer Prevention

Postscript on Prevention: Heart Disease and Cancer

5. Emotional Health and Cancer Survival

The Emotional Theory of Survival

Culture and the Psychology of Survival

Psychotherapy for Cancer

What Do the Studies Really Say?

Debunking the Myth: New Research Findings

6. Early Detection: The Key to Cancer Survival?

The Case for Early Detection

The Limits of Early Detection

Early Detection and Survival in Three Cancers

Are the Survival Advantages Real?

7. Class and Cancer Survival

Class and Health Care

Definitions of Class

Social Class and Mortality Risk

Social Factors and Cancer Survival in the United States

Income, Education, and Survival: The SLACS Findings

8. The Health Maintenance Organization: A Model for the Future?

The Rise of the HMO

Quality of Care in the HMO

Group Health Cooperative: A Landmark HMO

Cancer Treatment and Survival in the HMO and Fee-for-Service

The HMO: A Sign of Progress?

9. Conclusion: Personal Strategies and Public Issues

Individual Survival Strategies: A Consumer Perspective

Public Decisions and Cancer Survival.

Appendix A: The Seattle Longitudinal Assessment of Cancer Survival (SLACS)

Appendix B: Statistical Methods and Tables

Notes

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-520-37887-3

OCLC:

1453643981