Cancer survivors as activated patients: Exploring the relationship between cancer history and patient activation

Many cancer survivors experience long-term physical and psychosocial sequalae. As such, there is a need for survivors to be activated and participate in their own health care. Our study explores the relationship between cancer history and patient activation. We used data from the 2013 Health Information National Trends Survey (N = 3185, response rate = 35.19%). Survivors had approximately 70% higher odds of being highly activated compared to those with no cancer history. Level of activation did not vary across time since diagnosis. Future research should examine mechanisms for increased activation in survivors and ways to encourage more activation behaviors.