An Exploration of Patients’ Experience of MCI Diagnosis Disclosure v.1

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  An Exploration of Patients’ Experiences of Mild Cognitive Impairment Diagnosis Disclosure

• IRAS ID

  142289

• Contact name

  Caroline Cox

• Contact email

  CXC238@bham.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Birmingham

• Research summary

  The label and diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) has emerged over the last few years (Corner & Bond, 2006). The concept of MCI refers to individuals who have some cognitive impairment but whose impairments do not meet the criteria for dementia (Petersen et al., 2001).

  Those with MCI may revert to normal, their impairments may remain stable or they may progress to one of several forms of dementia (Lingler et al., 2006). Consequently, there are differing understandings of MCI among professionals and carers (Lin, Gleason & Heidrich, 2012). A diagnosis does not predict whether an individual will develop dementia and patients may be left wondering what their diagnosis means (Lin & Heidrich, 2012).

  Previous studies have explored how patients cope with the uncertain label of MCI but have not monitored the effect of the consultation where MCI diagnosis was explained and disclosed (Banningh, Vernooij-Dassen, Rikkert & Teunisse, 2008). How physicians communicate the diagnosis and its implications is an important avenue for future study (Lin & Heidrich, 2012), and there may be important outcomes related to types of information and support offered during consultation (Lin & Heidrich, 2012).

  This study will attempt to explore patients’ experiences of being told that they have MCI by interviewing 6- 12 people who are newly diagnosed about the experience of the diagnosis consultation. The interview will be open-ended and will allow participants to explore the parts of the consultation that were salient to them. The interviewer may guide participants to recall the details of the consultation and their experiences of hearing, processing and interpreting the diagnosis and the impact it has had on them, their life and their family.
  These interviews will be recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological

• REC name

  West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  14/WM/0123

• Date of REC Opinion

  14 May 2014

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion