HORIZONS: Understanding the Impact of Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment on Everyday Life

The purpose of this study is to invite all people diagnosed with cancer who meet the eligibility criteria to complete questionnaires before their treatment begins and at regular intervals over time to assess the impact of cancer and its treatment on people's lives in the short, medium and long term. We will explore a range of factors to determine their role in both recovery of health and well-being and self-management. Although it is known that people who have had cancer are likely to experience a number of physical and psychological problems as a result of the disease and treatment, it is not known what the 'typical' course of recovery of health and well-being looks like, how long it takes and how this can be influenced. We will determine pathways to recovery of health and well-being following cancer diagnosis (initially breast cancer diagnosed \<50 years, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and gynaecological cancers) and identify what factors influence this. This includes assessing the relative importance of the person's illness, personal attributes, perceived burden of treatment, role of the environment they live in, including health / social care and personal networks of support, and their ability and capacity to self-manage. We will identify who is most at risk of problems and what environmental supports and resources people are able to mobilise to support their self-management. We will also explore who has the confidence and ability to manage during and beyond treatment and what factors influence this and whether this leads to earlier problem resolution and restoration of health and well-being. This knowledge will be used to develop and test future supportive interventions to enhance the rapid recovery of health and well-being - our long term aim being to design ways of helping people with cancer in areas we identify as problematic for them.