cancer and comorbid diabetes interview study (INDICATE)

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  IdeNtifying ways to improve DIabetes management during CAncer TrEatments (INDICATE)

• IRAS ID

  276694

• Contact name

  Laura Ashley

• Contact email

  l.j.ashley@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Leeds Beckett University

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 5 months, 30 days

• Research summary

  Background
  Almost half of people living with diabetes will also develop cancer in their lifetime. Patients and health care professionals (HCPs) can struggle to manage diabetes during cancer treatments. Cancer patients who also have diabetes, especially if this is poorly-controlled, are more likely to have an adverse reaction, develop an infection, and be hospitalised during cancer treatment. Very little research has examined the experiences and support needs of patients or HCPs who are managing diabetes during cancer treatment. No research has developed ways to help cancer patients to better self-manage diabetes, or ways to support HCPs clinically manage diabetes during anti-cancer therapies.

  Aims
  To examine the challenges patients and HCPs face in managing diabetes during cancer treatments
  To identify ways to help patients and HCPs better manage diabetes during cancer treatments

  Methods
  We will interview 30-40 NHS patients with diabetes (type-1 or type-2) AND who have been treated for cancer in the last 3-years (breast, prostate or colorectal cancer). We will also interview 25-30 HCPs (e.g. oncologists, diabetologists, radiographers, specialist-nurses, dieticians, GPs, practice-nurses). Interviews will cover many topics, some of these based on relevant theories and previous research. We will explore the experiences, challenges and support needs of patients and HCPs. Interviews will last 30-60 minutes, be audio-recorded, and analysed using ‘framework analysis’.

  Outputs
  We will share the findings through: lay summaries; presentations at patient and public, clinical, and academic meetings/events/conferences; and publications in practitioner magazines and peer-reviewed journals. We will feedback to the recruiting NHS-Trusts and GP-surgeries any learning that could quickly lead to local improvements to care for this patient group. We will look to collaborate with Diabetes UK and Macmillan Cancer Support to use the findings to improve their clinical and patient information resources. We aim to undertake further research to develop and evaluate the intervention strategies identified in this study.
  

• REC name

  West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  20/WM/0310

• Date of REC Opinion

  25 Nov 2020

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion