Impact of Tai Chi on quality of life in palliative care.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Physical activity and quality of life in palliative care: Exploring patient’s experiences and views on participation in a tai-chi programme.
IRAS ID
192919
Contact name
Andrew Bradshaw
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Living with advanced disease can have detrimental impacts on quality of life. Therefore the primary focus of care for palliative patients is to improve and maintain quality of life. The physical and psychosocial benefits of exercise as a complementary therapy for palliative care patients has been well established. Tai Chi has been found to have positive effects on end of life experiences in terminally ill individuals by reducing levels of pain/fatigue, depression, and creating social environments that fosters emotional and informational support.
Gaining insight to patients' views on physical activity programmes and the barriers to, and facilitators of, participation is key to understanding how they can be structured to optimise inclusion, with the aim of ameliorating end of life experience and quality of life. At present, our understanding of how to best structure exercise programmes to achieve this is primitive.
This study will recruit 20 Wheatfields Hospice service users who are already participating in Tai Chi at the hospice. An ethnographic approach will be used which will include in-depth semi-structured interviews and observations. These will focus on barriers to and facilitators of participation in the Tai Chi programme and explore how engagement impacts on end of life experiences and quality of life. A field diary will be used to record what was seen and heard during the time spent with patients in formal and informal settings. A thematic analysis will be used to analyse data to identify common emergent themes.
Knowledge gained from this study will improve our understanding of patients' views on physical activity engagement in the hospice setting, thereby enabling Sue Ryder to review structural and/or organisational aspects of Tai Chi sessions from patients' perspectives. This will assist in meeting the needs of service users, thus optimise improvements in end of life experience and quality of life.
REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SC/0133
Date of REC Opinion
13 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion