Nothing About Us Without Us: Principles for Lived Experience-Informed Psycho-Oncology Education and Training.

Abstract

Lived experience is increasingly recognised as an essential source of expertise in healthcare research, service design, policy and quality improvement. In psycho-oncology, consumer involvement is now widely encouraged in research and service development; however comparatively little attention has been paid to the role of lived experience in educating and training the psycho-oncology workforce. We argue that involving people with lived experience should become a minimum requirement in developing, delivering, and evaluating psycho-oncology education and training. Given that psycho-oncology is fundamentally concerned with understanding and responding to the lived experience of cancer consumer involvement in education and training must be expected. To support meaningful implementation, we provide Principles for Lived Experience-Informed Psycho-Oncology Education and Training: representation, partnership, support, and accountability. Embedding lived experience expertise throughout psycho-oncology workforce development will strengthen the relevance, authenticity, and person-centredness of future education and training initiatives and may improve consumer outcomes.