Coping strategies of cancer patients in Ukraine

Summary This case study explores the coping strategies of oncology patients and their family members in Ukraine. These coping strategies are seen as an individual‐level response to the organizational and financial failures of the Ukrainian health care system. Based on semistructured interviews with medical doctors, patients, representatives of charitable foundations, and policy makers, we identify a variety of coping strategies, including personal connections and informal payments. Unequal access to diagnostic and treatment services is observed: coping strategies are developed by patients and their families taking into account the available financial and social capital. Importantly, we could not identify a typical path for cancer patients as cancer patients act in an environment of great uncertainty—in terms of their prognosis and in terms of the cost of treatment. With a weak state and financial uncertainty, patients and physicians perceive coping strategies rather positively as it may contribute to the chance of life.