A new initiative in Greece is examining how language used to describe cancer in public discourse can negatively affect patients and their families, with the aim of shaping future media guidelines.
The effort is led by the Hellenic Cancer Federation (ELLOK) in collaboration with the organisation WinCancer. Through a specialised questionnaire, the project seeks to document how expressions commonly used in Greek media coverage, such as "incurable disease", "cursed disease", or phrases like "lost the battle (with cancer)", are perceived by people with lived experience of cancer and their relatives. According to the organisations involved, such language, although often used without harmful intent, can have psychological and social consequences.
The initiative builds on a broader action titled "The power of words", carried out in cooperation with Greece's General Secretariat for Communication and Media. ELLOK president Giorgos Kapetanakis said the project also involves collaboration with the Department of Communication, Media and Culture at Panteion University, with the aim of developing a code of ethics for how cancer is discussed in journalism and beyond. Kapetanakis said: "We have already organised various events with the participation of media, and we are working […] to shape a Code of Ethics for how we express ourselves."
Kapetanakis stated that Greece is among the few European countries to highlight this issue. He emphasised that commonly used phrases carry particular weight for those affected. "Words such as 'cursed disease', expressions such as 'lost the battle', 'won the battle' […] have a particular weight for cancer patients and their families," he said.
He added that such language may not reflect current clinical realities. "We also know that in many cases, cancer is now curable; it is a chronic disease," he said. The stated goal is to promote language that "responds to the reality of cancer and does not create an additional burden on people who are ill and their families", while contributing to a broader cultural shift.
The questionnaire aims to gather experiential insights, including what kinds of language patients find distressing or inappropriate. "We want to see what affects people, what bothers them, what we would like to avoid," Kapetanakis explained, adding that the findings will be analysed together with stakeholders in order to establish standards and practices that could reduce this burden.
He also described the psychological and social impacts associated with what he termed "wrong words". Referring to morale, he said: "When we say that someone 'lost the battle to cancer', what does that mean? That they are not a good fighter?" Such framing can impose an emotional weight on patients, he added.
Kapetanakis also shared a personal example to illustrate potential social consequences. After his own cancer diagnosis, he said some clients stopped working with him because they assumed he would die. "So you understand that all this has a social impact," he noted.
The questionnaire is anonymous and takes less than 15 minutes to complete. Once a sufficient number of responses is collected to ensure a representative sample, the results will be analysed by the university's scientific team. The findings are expected to inform proposals developed in cooperation with institutional stakeholders, with the stated aim of transforming language from a source of fear and exclusion into a means of empowerment for people with cancer experience.
by Foteini Stefanopoulou - adapted from Greek by Vassia Barba
