Advancing consumer engagement : supporting, developing and empowering youth leadership in cancer care

Healthcare reform increasingly stresses the importance of consumer engagement in promoting public health and improving healthcare systems (Carman et al., 2013; Herrin et al., 2016; Ocloo & Matthews, 2016). However, existing initiatives typically focus on individuals’ involvement in their own care (Herrin et al., 2016) and engage consumers through consultation rather than collaboration, limiting their ability to influence higher‐level decision‐making, policy and practice (Ocloo & Matthews, 2016). Moreover, these initiatives underrepresent those already marginalised from healthcare systems (e.g., by age, class, ethnicity; Ocloo & Matthews, 2016) and the growing movement to involve patients in the organisation and delivery of cancer care has largely neglected young people in particular. A meaningful commitment to consumer engagement must look beyond actively involving young people in their own care and begin to engage them in shaping the systems and organisations that serve them.