An exploration of the nature and meaning of informal communities in cancer treatment

In hospital settings patients, visitors and staff take part in many interactions outside the formal clinical consultation. These encounters can be inconsequential or may be of significant importance to the way in which patients and their caregivers experience cancer and its treatment and staff engage in care provision. There is evidence that these ‘informal interactions’ in cancer treatment settings are patterned social processes. This study proposes that these interactions exist as social systems within hospital settings. This thesis aims to study their content, outcomes and functioning as social systems.