Patient's experiences of melanoma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A longitudinal study examining patient's experiences of melanoma using illness grids
IRAS ID
184596
Contact name
Rebecca Healey
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Teesside University
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Melanoma has become a significant public health concern due to the dramatic rise in incidence rates worldwide over the past few decades. A cancer diagnosis is a significant life altering event, resulting in disruption to an individual’s psychological well-being, social world as well as the physical connotations. Melanoma is a complex disease that can affect individuals in a multitude of different ways these could include but are not limited to existential concerns, negative emotions such as fear, isolation and helplessness, issues surrounding personal identity, self-esteem and body image. Therefore, the psychosocial implications need to be considered in more depth and integrated where necessary to improve the quality of care patients receive. Ensuring that patient’s needs and psychosocial well-being is attended to as well as their physical issues around diagnosis and treatment, is of importance in the National Institute of Care and Excellence Guidelines recently published and in NHS policies promoting patient-centred care. This project will invite a minimum of twenty patient’s recently diagnosed with melanoma to take part in three separate interviews over a 12-18 month period (dependent upon patient availability). At each of these interviews patients will be required to complete an illness grid documenting recent events, Doctor-patient communication, treatment decision making, psychosocial impact, the impact of melanoma on their selves including body image and identity, how their health behaviours have altered and any additional comments they wish to make about their experiences of melanoma.
REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NE/0165
Date of REC Opinion
24 Jun 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion