The cancer therapy experience study. Version one.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The cancer therapy and clinical environment experience study: the influence of lifestyle, physiological, and psychological factors on the patient experience and treatment outcomes.
IRAS ID
214849
Contact name
James E Turner
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bath
Duration of Study in the UK
8 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
A substantial number of cancer cases diagnosed in the UK each year are cancers of the breast (approximately 50,000 cases), the prostate (approximately 40,000 cases) and blood (approximately 26,000 cases). Each diagnosis requires different treatment that varies on the basis of the number and duration of hospital visits, drug administration, and side effects, resulting in a different patient experience. It is known that a number of lifestyle, physiological and psychological changes occur during and following cancer treatment, and some of these measurements robustly predict the success of treatment. The proposed work will assess the patient experience before and during treatment (approximately 6 months in total) in recently diagnosed breast, prostate and blood cancer (i.e., leukaemia and lymphoma) patients. Measurements will include lifestyle variables (e.g., physical activity level and diet), physiological variables (e.g., cardiorespiratory fitness, body mass and composition), psychological variables (e.g., stress, anxiety, depression, plus reactive/coping responses to a controlled laboratory stressor) and a number of clinical outcomes (e.g., responses to treatment, complications). Research shows that the immediate clinical environment can influence the patient experience and treatment outcomes. As The Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust is building a new cancer treatment centre at the Royal United Hospital Combe Park site, we will undertake our investigation in the existing clinical facilities (that were established in the 1940s) and compare them to identical measurements, in a comparable group of patients, once a new cancer treatment centre has been opened in 2021. The impact of this work will be a better understanding of the patient experience across the cancer survivorship continuum, potentially identifying predictors of treatment success that might inform the design of interventions to improve routine care.
REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SW/0020
Date of REC Opinion
3 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion