With your help, we improve the emotional wellbeing of those who need us most

‘Stories that Accompany’ seeks to humanise cancer treatment by reducing stress and anxiety through audiobooks. The project offers companionship, emotional support and mental stimulation to patients, making reading more accessible when physical fatigue makes traditional reading difficult. In this way, we transform waiting times and treatment sessions into moments of respite, calm and optimism, supporting people during their most vulnerable moments with a gesture of hope and warmth.

Cancer is currently one of the leading causes of illness and death worldwide. In Spain, an estimated 301,184 new cases will be diagnosed by 2026. Compounding this difficult situation is the profound social and emotional impact of the disease, which causes patients to experience frequent episodes of anxiety, fear and loneliness.

Currently, clinical care prioritises physical treatment over emotional support due to a lack of specific resources and difficulties in accessing emotional and cultural support during the care process. However, looking after emotional wellbeing in hospitals is an essential part of the healing process. Being able to clear one’s mind and enjoy a good story offers moments of relief that have a very positive impact on the patient’s experience.

In response to this need, ‘Historias que acompañan’ (Stories that Accompany) has been launched, a project by the IN Foundation created with the aim of offering companionship, hope and emotional wellbeing during cancer treatment. Through this initiative, free three-month subscription memberships to audiobooks will be distributed in hospitals across Spain.

The following actions will be carried out to implement the project:

• Production and assembly of individual envelopes containing the 3-month membership cards.

• Dispatch and delivery of batches of envelopes to those responsible for patient-centred care in hospitals.

• Coordination with nursing staff and volunteers to deliver the materials.

• Direct distribution of the envelopes to cancer patients currently undergoing active treatment.

• Support and guidance for patients or their relatives on how to activate their membership on their mobile phones.

• Design and installation of information posters about the audiobooks in oncology waiting rooms.

• Digital monitoring of discharges and membership activations to replenish the envelopes in hospitals.

• Direct beneficiaries: Cancer patients undergoing active treatment in the selected hospitals, who will receive emotional support, entertainment and companionship through three-month audiobook subscriptions.

• Indirect beneficiaries: Patients’ families and primary carers, as their emotional stress is reduced, and the healthcare staff themselves (nurses and doctors), as they are provided with a tool that improves the wellbeing and hospital stay of patients in the oncology ward.

Fundación Iñaki Nogueroles