Cancer, disability and dependency. The importance of support networks for cancer patients: a healthcare social work perspective

Abstract

Cancer is one of the main socio-health problems in the world. The ageing of the Spanish population together with the high survival rates of cancer patients means that the number of centenarians in our country is increasing. The diagnosis and the evolutionary process of the disease generates situations of disability and dependence in the sick patient that affect him or herself, but also the family dynamics. The family is one of the main caregivers of the sick patient, and the role of main caregiver commonly falls on the female gender in the first degree of consanguinity, as is supported by this research. These careers may have and objective and subjective burden in caring for the sick patient. The Dependency Law is insufficient in its application and late in granting aid. The discipline of Social Work must be a guarantor of difnity for the sick patient and the main caregiver, anticipating future events of social needs derived from the oncological disease.