SI-Qual
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Suicidal ideation in post-treatment Head and Neck Cancer patients – a qualitative exploration of the feasibility and acceptability of using a screening tool to patients and clinicians (SI-Qual)
IRAS ID
304445
Contact name
Anastasios Kanatas
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 1 days
Research summary
Patients with Head and Neck Cancer are five times more likely to end their life by suicide compared with the general population and twice as likely compared to patients with any other type of cancer. However, at present there is no formal assessment of suicidal thoughts and/or intent among this cohort. We would like to explore the feasibility and acceptability both to patients and clinicians of using a validated, brief suicide risk assessment tool (The Suicide Behaviours Questionnaire-revised, SBQ-R) in patients who have received a diagnosis of head and neck cancer. We will use a qualitative approach, with individual interviews of head and neck cancer patients, and either focus groups or individual interviews with a range of staff who provide care for head and neck cancer patients.
As interviews are expected to generate a large amount of information we anticipate recruiting no more than 10 patients and 10 members of staff. We will select patients who have received treatment to cure their head and neck cancer, and who received this treatment at least 1 year before the interview date, as previous research has found that the risk of suicide is much reduced after this time period.
We plan to use this research to support further work which will establish how common and severe the problem of suicidal thoughts in head and neck cancer patients after treatment is. We then hope to develop a new care package for patients going through treatment for head and neck cancer to improve their mental wellbeing and reduce their risk of suicidal thoughts.REC name
Wales REC 4
REC reference
22/WA/0304
Date of REC Opinion
27 Jan 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion