Cancer Progression: Capturing the Concerns of Patients v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Cancer Progression: Capturing the Concerns of Patients Living with Cancer Recurrence.
IRAS ID
287677
Contact name
Ross Stewart
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Stirling
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
The aim of this study is to capture the experience of patients with recurrent breast or patients with recurrent prostate cancer, with a focus on understanding how much these patients fear that their disease will progress. The significance of a cancer diagnosis is well established. However, it has been suggested that cancer recurrence may have a more significant impact than initial diagnosis.
An aspect of cancer patients’ wellbeing that has been studied is their fears that their cancer will recur. These fears may reach a level which is associated with low quality of life. This fear has also been examined in research as the patients’ fear that their cancer will progress (the terms are used interchangeably). This change of terminology, though considered the same psychological issue, allows measurement in patients with disease at different stages. However, there is little research examining fear of progression after recurrence occurs.
Fear of progression, quality of life, and psychological factors will be measured at three timepoints so that the impact of recurrence can be examined at different stages. Measuring these outcomes in breast and prostate cancer patients allows for comparison of these cancer types alongside other demographic information, in order to clarify which factors may be responsible for a patient demonstrating higher fears. With breast and prostate cancers the most common for males and females respectively, it is hoped that findings will have clinical relevance due to their prevalent nature. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted cancer services nationwide, so we have included a scale that will measure the fears patients have in relation to the pandemic and its impact on their care.
Based on the quantitative data analysis and responses from individual participants, a sub-sample will be invited to interview to explore in-depth their experiences of living with a recurrence.REC name
London - Stanmore Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/PR/0852
Date of REC Opinion
1 Feb 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion