DISCO v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Designing Services for Cancer in Older People (DiSCO): A study to co-design a self-management support intervention for older people living with and beyond cancer
IRAS ID
279388
Contact name
Kumud Kantilal
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of East Anglia
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
Adult cancer survival rates have doubled in the last 40 years in the United Kingdom. A large number of survivors are people 65 years or older. Our survey of 343 cancer survivors, aged 65 years or more, identified that they are dissatisfied with support after treatment is complete. One way to better support survivors is to help them play a more active role in their own care after they finish cancer treatment. This is called "self-management." Healthcare practitioners play an important role in supporting people to self-manage but these practitioners may not have the skills or time to effectively provide this support.
The purpose of this study is to equip healthcare practitioners in primary and community care with the capability, opportunity and motivation to effectively support older people to self-manage the long-term problems they may face after cancer treatment. We have combined published research with experiences of patients and practitioners to prioritise the key factors that influence whether practitioners actively support patients to self-manage.
We will invite general practitioners, nurses and community pharmacists to participate in online focus groups to identify the factors that influence delivery of self-management support interventions. We will also convene online workshops with practitioners, patient advocates and commissioners to identify what might help or hinder practitioners to support people to self-manage. We will use a theoretical framework to come up with a draft plan to help practitioners deliver a self-management service. The research findings will lay the foundation for developing a self-management support intervention for implementation in primary/community care.REC name
West of Scotland REC 4
REC reference
20/WS/0163
Date of REC Opinion
11 Nov 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion