The Lived Experience of Active Charcot Foot. Version 1.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Lived Experience of Active Charcot Foot in Diabetes Mellitus - Identifying ways to enhance patient care.
IRAS ID
129701
Contact name
Simon Otter
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Brighton
Research summary
The purpose of this Qualitative study is to explore what is it like to be diagnosed with and receive treatment for active Charcot foot.
Charcot foot is a rare condition most commonly found in people who have diabetes and nerve damage or ‘peripheral neuropathy’. It can lead to bone damage, gross deformity and even amputation. Treatment of Charcot foot involves immobilization, usually in a knee length, non-removable cast for several months. Quality of life can be reduced for people with this diagnosis as treatment can typically last 10-12 months.
Data collection will occur in 2 stages.
The 1st stage is patient interviews using autophotography. Participants will be invited to bring along 3-5 photographs that represent what the diagnosis of Charcot foot and its treatment means to them in their everyday life. The images will form the main basis of the participant interviews. We aim to interview 12-15 people with early stage or ‘Active’ Charcot foot for approximately 1 hour. We will be recruiting from the Diabetic foot clinic at Kings College Hospital. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of each interview will be carried out followed by further analysis of the collective data to look for reoccurring themes between the participants.
During the 2nd stage we will hold focus groups with practitioners from approximately 4 hospitals across the UK who are actively involved in treating Charcot foot. This will be carried out in order to find practitioner perspectives of the patient experience. Individual focus group thematic analysis followed again by collective analysis will be performed. Finally both patient and practitioner data sets will be compared to explore similarities and differences in perspectives. This information will be used to identify ways in which we can improve care for patients receiving this diagnosis and its treatment.REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/LO/1314
Date of REC Opinion
2 Oct 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion