Erasing the stigma of lung cancer is one of the goals of all advocates who fight for more lung cancer awareness and funding.  But sometimes it’s hard to know how to go about it.

The focus of the #LCSM Chat on February 13 at 8 PM ET will be “Brainstorming: How Do We Erase the Stigma of Lung Cancer?”  Imagine we have unlimited funds, political influence in all the right places, ready access to every medical professional, and all the trained, eloquent workers we need.  What actions would erase the stigma of lung cancer?

Our moderator for this chat, Laronica Conway, will use these topics to get the discussion going:

• T1: How would you erase lung cancer stigma among individuals? Billboards? Front-page articles? Doorbelling? Be specific.
• T2: How would you erase lung cancer stigma among healthcare professionals? What would you need to do this?
• T3: How would you erase lung cancer stigma among government officials and lawmakers? What would you need to do this?
• T4: How would you erase lung cancer stigma among lung cancer patients and their families?

To prepare for this chat, you might wish to read some of the articles about lung cancer stigma on our new “Lung Cancer in the Media” page.

Guidelines on how to participate in an #LCSM Chat can be found on the “#LCSM Chat” page of the #LCSM website. Hope to see you on Twitter!

Background reading

Dear Lung Cancer Patient Who Smoked

Can we erase lung cancer stigma without mentioning “smoking”?

Breast cancer, lung cancer, AIDS: unorthodox thoughts about stigma

A systematic review of the impact of stigma and nihilism on lung cancer outcomes

Stigma among patients with lung cancer: a patient-reported measurement model

Lung cancer stigma, anxiety, depression, and quality of life

Lung cancer stigma, anxiety, depression and symptom severity

Explorations of lung cancer stigma for female long-term survivors

Lung cancer stigma, depression, and quality of life among ever and never smokers