Social and economic factors impacting people living with IBD in the UK

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Co-creation project to understand what social and economic factors have the biggest impact on people living with Crohn’s and Colitis in the UK

• IRAS ID

  336033

• Contact name

  Abigail Hucker

• Contact email

  a.hucker@herts.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Hertfordshire

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 3 months, 26 days

• Research summary

  In 2022, 1 in 123 people were living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the UK, costing the NHS £1billion per annum in care delivery. The two main forms of IBD are Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis, with Ulcerative Colitis having a higher prevalence than Crohn’s disease and unspecified IBD. For both conditions, patients can experience periods of remission and flares. Although diagnosis can occur at any age, diagnosis of IBD often occurs between the ages of 15 and 40 years. People with IBD experience debilitating symptoms including diarrhoea, pain, weight loss, and fatigue, impacting on quality of life. Quality of life has perhaps unsurprisingly been reported to be significantly poorer among adults and children living with IBD.

  The study aims to identify how social, economic and cultural factors shape everyday experiences and patient priorities of care when living with IBD. To meet this aim the study will use mixed-methods to:
  • Identify which social, economic and cultural factors most impact on patient experience of everyday life
  • Identify prioritisation for future research that is informed by patients unmet needs

  Our research plan is to: 1) understand via in-depth interviews how social, economic and cultural factors unfold in terms of their impact on navigating life with IBD; 2) invite those who participated in interviews to review the findings of the interviews to help further refine priorities for patient experiences; 3)invite up to 5 patients who took part in the in-depth interviews to use photovoice methodology to represent their everyday experience of IBD.

• REC name

  North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  24/NW/0259

• Date of REC Opinion

  24 Sep 2024

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion