This book is the third in the series on cancer and palliative care education. It is no light read, with 22 chapters and more than 350 pages. However, as its title indicates, it does cover a wide range of topics related to the diversity of cancer and palliative care education.
What I liked about the book was its clear organisation. The aims and learning outcomes are stated at the beginning of each chapter, with the key points re-stated at the chapter’s conclusion. This layout makes it easy to dip into and out of the book. I also liked the fact that the teaching of communication skills occurred at the very beginning, highlighting its primacy in cancer and palliative care education. The chapters are clearly linked to each other, with references made to previous and forthcoming chapters. The book could have been a disparate group of 22 chapters, but instead it coalesces well into a unified whole.
The collection of topics does showcase the breadth of education, practice and research that is currently occurring in the field. However, I found that the material/strategies within the chapters were not particularly new or innovative. Strategies such as using actors, role plays, reflective practice and storytelling have been part of the education toolbox for some time now. What is perhaps new are the chapters on the importance of the teaching of critical thinking skills, the teaching of law applicable to cancer and palliative care contexts, the topic of patient and carer education and the use of cancer stories as a basis for communication modules.
One of my research interests is the nature of suffering and how to educate palliative care professionals to work with this subjective concept. Therefore, it was heartening to see that there was a chapter on hope and suffering written by Robert Becker. The classroom exercises will perhaps provide some useful ‘hope inspiring’ strategies that will assist in the area of capacity building.
Overall, the cited educational strategies can be applied to many disciplines and education levels. In my opinion, this is a strength of the book.
The book focuses primarily on UK based research and experiences. If you want different cultural contexts and appropriate educational strategies for these, you will not find them here.
This book would be beneficial to all educators/trainers in the field of cancer and palliative care.