Perception, Experience & Relationship with Food & Eating in CF Adults

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  A Prospective Qualitative Study Examining the Perception, Experience and Relationship with Food and Eating in Adults with Cystic Fibrosis (PERFECT-CF)

• IRAS ID

  167269

• Contact name

  Joanne Barrett

• Sponsor organisation

  Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 5 months, 31 days

• Research summary

  Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common life-limiting inherited condition affecting the Caucasian population, resulting in premature death due to progressive respiratory failure. People with CF usually also experience problems with their digestion and nutrition, predominantly caused by an inability to secrete digestive enzymes resulting in malabsorption. Reduced appetite is also common due to chest infection, unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea and gastro-oesophageal reflux. Maintaining body weight is an important aspect of CF care and dietetic therapy is a prominent aspect of the management of people with CF. Despite this, there has been very little qualitative research conducted to explore the perceptions and experience of food that people with CF experience. This qualitative study therefore aims to explore feelings, attitudes and perceptions of food in adults with CF, to examine how having CF influences eating habits and relationships with food and increase our understanding of how people with CF manage/cope with their special dietary needs in the context of their day-to-day lives.

  We aim to recruit 10 adults with CF using the CF Trust Forum and UK Dietitians’ CF Interest Group. Participants will be asked to complete a brief questionnaire and then take part in a semi-structured telephone interview. The interview will be tape-recorded and notes will be taken by the researcher during the interview. The transcripts will be analysed by thematic content analysis, which enables the researcher to categorise accounts into themes that recur and are common in the data set. All results will be anonymised, with paperwork stored in a locked filing cabinet and electronic data stored on NHS password-protected computers. We expect the findings to provide useful information regarding barriers to maintaining adequate nutrition in CF and stimulate future ideas for research in this area.

• REC name

  West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  16/WM/0096

• Date of REC Opinion

  18 Feb 2016

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion