Research Programme 1 – Information Needs and Decision Making
- Information and support needs of patients and the family unit.
- Defining patients’ experiences and concerns regarding the decision-making process related to their care.
- Living beyond urological cancer.
Information and support needs of patients and the family unit.
One of the main aims of this work is to collect a wide range of peoples’ experiences and opinions on treatments and aftercare to allow patients and their families to be centrally involved in decision-making and to help them cope with their illness and treatment and make as full a return to normal life as possible. This will inform the development and delivery of future services and patient information, support strategies and patient-to-patient peer support networks. Current studies include:
Peer support for those diagnosed and living with urological cancer
Why are we conducting this project?
The aim of this review is to map out the range of peer support interventions that exist for cancer patients with particular focus on those developed specifically for urological cancer patients. The focus of this review is to investigate the aims, design, delivery, evaluation and outcome of interventions in order to identify the gaps within peer support services.
Why is this research important?
The potential advantage of conducting this project is that the outcome of the narrative review will inform the activities of UCAN care centre in the areas of design and delivery of peer support among urological cancer patients. Further projects will emerge from this review such as ‘primary research on peer support’ or systematic review on peer support basing on the gaps identified.
How will this study be carried out?
The project involves a narrative review of literature on Peer Support Interventions for Urological cancer patients. The objectives of the review focus on all cancers and urological cancers. For all cancers, the objectives are to map out peer support interventions used for patients diagnosed with cancer; to develop an understanding of the design, delivery and evaluation of interventions for cancer patients and to provide an overview of findings of the interventions that have been developed for cancer patients. For urological cancers, the objectives are to map out peer support interventions used for patients diagnosed with urological cancer, to develop an understanding of the design, delivery and evaluation of interventions for urological cancer patients, to provide an overview of the findings of the interventions that have been developed for urological cancer patients.
When will this research take place?
The narrative review is currently ‘work in progress’ and we anticipate to complete it by January 2011. As a review team, we are currently working on the identified abstracts through a comprehensive search strategy conducted on qualitative and quantitative studies (peer support). We are determining what to include in the narrative review and to exclude.
Contact
The following members of research team are taking part in the review: Dr Sara J. MacLennan, Dr Zoe C. Skea and Mr. Chifundo Madziamodzi Makuta. For further information, Dr Sara J MacLennan (Director of Operations, Academic Urology Unit) could be contacted.
Funding organisation
TOTAL, UCAN and SCRN
Information needs of urological cancer patients in Grampian
Why are we conducting this project?
We are conducting this project so that we can better understand the information needs of urological cancer patients across Grampian.
How will this study be carried out?
Building on findings from an earlier small-scale interview study, we are developing a survey to distribute to a larger sample of urological cancer patients across the Grampian region.
Why is this research important?
This research will allow us to ensure that information and support packages made available to patients through the UCAN care centre are informed by patient perspectives.
Who are we working with?
This project will be conducted by researchers working at the Academic Urology Unit, University of Aberdeen
When will this research take place?
This project will commence in 2011
Funding organisation
This project is being undertaken as part of an NHS Endowment fund grant.
Defining patients’ experiences and concerns regarding the decision-making process related to their care.
The aim of this work is to investigate the antecedents and consequences of treatment decisions in men with localised prostate cancer. Current study include:
Patient treatment choices
Title
“Using psychological theory to explore patients’ treatment choices in the context of urological cancer”
Why are we conducting this project?
This theory-driven study explores how people adapt to a diagnosis of urological cancer and how perceptions of their illness change in the 6-week period immediately after diagnosis.
Why is this research important?
This is important as maladaptive coping strategies can have negative effects on patients’ wellbeing. A further aim of the study is to explore links between the way men diagnosed with localised prostate cancer think about their illness and medical treatment at the time of diagnosis and any regret about their treatment decision they experience 6- and 12-months later. This is important as men who regret their treatment decision are more likely to have poorer quality of life.
How will these studies be carried out?
This study will be carried out by using questionnaires.
When will this research take place?
Ongoing
Funding organisation
This research is funded by UCAN.
Contact
Moira Cruickshank mcruickshank@abdn.ac.uk