Palliative Care Understanding in Patients with Advanced Gynae Cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Understanding, Perception and Experiences of Palliative Care in Patients with Advanced and/or Recurrent Gynaecological Cancer.
IRAS ID
147965
Contact name
Daniel Hay
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Research summary
This research aims to gain a greater knowledge of the understanding, perceptions and experiences of palliative care in patients with advanced and/or recurrent gynaecological cancer. These patients tend to have incurable disease, therefore any treatment given is usually with palliative intent. However, they often have a longer prognosis than is typically associated with palliative care, and this can cause inconsistency in their management. Previous work has shown differences in the understanding, perceptions and experiences of gynaecology healthcare professionals in relation to the provision of palliative care for these women, but very little information is available from the patients themselves about how these variations impact on patient care. It is hoped that by gaining insight into the experiences of patients, it will be possible to improve overall care and ensure a more consistent approach to the holistic management of patients with advanced and/or recurrent gynaecological cancer.
Patients with advanced and/or incurable gynaecological cancer will be invited to participate in either an individual semi-structured interview or focus group, where their experience and perceptions of palliative care in the both the gynaecology and specialist palliative care settings (if applicable) will be explored by a single interviewer. The information gained from these interviews will be analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, which is a qualitative method particularly suited to exploring experience. This project will give us a greater understanding of these patients' experiences and perceptions, as well as identifying any common misperceptions which may exist around palliative care.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/0229
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jun 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion