Cancerforum-an online peer to peer network

In 2010, The Danish Cancer Society introduced The Cancerforum. The Cancerforum is an online network for everybody affected by cancer. It was introduced to serve several purposes. First of all to make it easy to exchange views and experiences. Secondly to be able to do so anonymously and in a safe setting. Finally to make it easier to get in contact with people in the same situation living far away – this can be especially relevant for people with rare diagnosis.

During the past ten years, The Cancerforum has been very popular and now has an average of 10.000 users in approximately 60 different groups. The groups can be diagnose specific or thematic i.e. a group for breast cancer patients and another group for people with late side effects or a group for relatives.

How does it work?

You can join The Cancerforum and one or more sub groups by making a profile with a private password. You can post a comment, ask for advice or choose just to read what others have written. Every group has a kind of a group manager who is usually the one who started the group. The users share views on almost every thinkable aspect on cancer related topics.

The Danish Cancer Society has two employees who keep an eye on the content and see to it that the site is developed continuously and stays relevant. They only interfere in the actual dialogue if the content is medically misguiding, if it is somehow worrying (i.e. suicide threats), if the tone is hostile or if someone tries to use the platform for commercial purposes. Apart from these situations, the users can share views on anything. Even controversial views that are not aligned with the general opinion of The Danish Cancer Society. Actually, the two employees very rarely have to interfere. Their primary job is monitoring.

The Cancerforum during COVID-19

In the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was March 2020 in Denmark, it was obvious that The Cancerforum was a useful site, because people were able to meet without having to be face to face.

We tried out two new ways of having groups. One of them was “Ask a professional counsellor about COVID-19”. It was new to us to have counsellors from the CIS directly connected to the groups. This was very popular in the beginning of the pandemic. We had questions daily, and by answering them in the forum, the answers were useful to a larger group of people.

We also tried to make a group for the lonely and isolated. This was initiated by two psychologists working as counsellors at The Danish Cancer Society, inviting people living alone and in COVID-19 induced isolation to share their thoughts and feelings. This group had very few members and never really became the success it was intended to be. Our experience is that the groups have to have a certain volume in order to be successful.

Status

The Cancerforum is now more or less back to where it was before the pandemic. Many of the groups are very active, and the users are happy to have a forum where their data are protected (as opposed to i.e. Facebook groups). The newest group is for couples who have a cancer diagnosis during pregnancy. Fortunately that is quite rare in Denmark, which makes The Cancerforum a very relevant place to meet.

Contact details for further questions

mariel@cancer.dk