Role of patient values in decisions about long-term enteral feeding
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Examining the role of patient values in decisions about long-term enteral feeding: A qualitative study.
IRAS ID
170555
Contact name
Louise Brereton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
NA, NA
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 15 days
Research summary
The decision to have a gastrostomy tube (a feeding tube placed into the stomach in patients who are unable to take enough oral diet) placed for long-term feeding at home goes beyond considering the risks of tube placement. Living at home with a gastrostomy tube impacts on many parts of a patient and their family’s home life. The role that patient’s values (values refers to the patients preferences and expectations in relation to the decision) play in the decision to have a gastrostomy tube placed has not been previously explored.
Using semi-structured interviews, this qualitative study intends to explore the role of considering patients values when making the decision to have a gastrostomy tube placed for long term feeding. Patients will be asked by health professionals directly involved in the care of patients on gastrostomy tube feeding at home, if they wish to take part in the study. Those patients who wish to participate in the study will be asked to give written consent to take part in the research interview, performed by the principal researcher. Most of the interviews are likely to take place in the patients’ home and will last a maximum of 90 minutes. All data will be anonymised and securely stored, either within the hospital premises or on password protected University of Sheffield computers. The data collected will be studied to identify what patients think are the key issues relating to the role of considering values in the decision to have a gastrostomy feeding tube placed.
The findings of this study will encourage clinicians involved in gaining informed consent, to consider the role patients values play in the decision making process to have a gastrostomy feeding tube placed, and may help inform the future development of decision support tools.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/YH/0079
Date of REC Opinion
12 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion