Patients' experiences of cancer diagnosis in UK, Sweden and Denmark
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A comparative qualitative study of patients' experiences of cancer diagnosis in England, Denmark and Sweden: can comparative analysis of patients' narratives help us identify how to improve cancer services?
IRAS ID
155975
Contact name
Sue Ziebland
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Research and Development Department, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
Research summary
This qualitative study, conducted by the Health Experiences Research Group - University of Oxford, will gather, explore and compare patients' experiences of lung and colorectal cancer within and across three European countries (England, Denmark and Sweden). Many factors that most significantly and adversely affect cancer survival – including delays in presentation and diagnosis, occur either before or soon after initial patient contact with the health system. To enable a detailed analysis of these factors and to understand the reasons behind them, qualitative interviews will be carried out in the three countries with samples of recently diagnosed patients. This study will provide new, in-depth insights into early stages of the care pathway from the patient’s perspective and help explain differences observed in the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership (ICBP) and other quantitative studies.
Objectives are to:
1. Describe experiences of the routes to diagnosis of lung and colorectal cancer patients.
2. Use patients’ accounts to extend understanding of potentially modifiable factors known to
influence long-term cancer survival, including late presentation, delayed diagnosis and
referral into specialist care.3. Compare patients’ accounts – within and between countries – to identify when and why
important variations occur.4. Compare patient perspectives between countries to highlight opportunities for pathway and service redesign and promote early identification and diagnosis.
The English arm of the study will be led by the Health Experiences Research Group, who will work in collaboration with the Karolinska Institutet and Umeå University in Sweden and the Research Centre for Cancer Diagnosis (CaP), Aarhus University in Denmark. Patients will also be interviewed in Denmark and Sweden under separate country - specific ethics approvals, using the same methodology.
The study is funded by the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI)Research Call, which is a group of funders under the auspices of the National Cancer Research Institute. Funding will be awarded on written confirmation of ethics approval.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
14/NS/1035
Date of REC Opinion
30 Jul 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion