Attitudes to Gynae Oncology Care Location - GRACEFUL
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating attitudes to Gynaecological Rapid Access, Cancer Exclusion and Follow Up Location
IRAS ID
339158
Contact name
Jo Morrison
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 7 months, 24 days
Research summary
Gynaecological oncology (cancer) place of care is often based on evolution of services, along historical professional boundaries, rather than user needs or preferences. We aim to gather views of patients in the United Kingdom (UK) on their preferred place of care for investigation, treatment and follow-up of gynaecological cancer. An initial scoping review found no previous work in this area.
Pilot work, performed to inform local re-organisation of services, found that 53% of participants were somewhat or very unhappy to have care co-located with O&G services. Specifically, two key themes were identified through content analysis of free-text comments: “environment and getting this right is vital”; and “our cancer should be the priority”. However, via a BGCS survey, we found that healthcare professionals (HCPs) underestimated strong patient preferences. Of those who see patients within O&G services, only 50% said patients were seen at separate times/locations from obstetric patients. We want to expand on these pilot data to better understand how to design services that better meet our patients’ needs.
We will conduct a survey to ascertain service users’ attitudes to location of services, collecting quantitative data & qualitative data, including opportunities for feedback in free text. We will conduct analysis using standard statistical methods & content analysis of free-text responses. Submissions will be anonymous & no identifiable data will be collected routinely, unless volunteered by the respondent. We will ask a subset of ~30 participants to undertake a telephone/virtual-based semi-structured interview to further explore understanding on attitudes to location of care more generally. A topic guide will be developed, informed by the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability. Interviews will be audio-recorded with consent, transcribed verbatim & anonymised. The anonymised transcripts will be analysed using a form of Thematic Analysis. These findings should help to shape future health care service sensitive to patient-need.
REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/EM/0026
Date of REC Opinion
24 Feb 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion