Relationship with cancer survivors

A survey method was adopted for this study. Young adults (N= 117) age 19 to 29 years pan India were recruited online from January to April 2019. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: The mean age of the participants was 23.5 years constituting 58.1% females and 41.9% males. On participants willingness to date and marry cancer survivors, most of them responded with yes (date: 43.6% and marry: 38.5%) followed by maybe (36.8% and 34.2% respectively). Reasons for a “Yes” response included being in love, the person as an individual, and relationship compatibility; those responding “no” feared the health of their partner’s impact on them, fear of recurrence/ relapse and impact on future generations, and “maybe” response would consider based on the partner and their personality.

Majority (57.5%) of them preferred disclosure of cancer before starting the relation , 27.6% wanted to know during the courtship period, while 14.9% preferred finding out before committing. Conclusion: With increased awareness, majority of youngsters are compassionate towards cancer thus, promoting rehabilitation and reintegration of survivors in the society. However, their own fears, myths, and misconceptions are still a barrier to cancer warriors pursuing their family lives.