Study of psychosocial issues following admission for DFU V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An explorative study to determine the psychosocial issues and existing support provision for patients following their first admission to hospital for management of (severe) diabetic foot ulceration.
IRAS ID
240604
Contact name
Samantha Holloway
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
The study aim is to explore the psychosocial issues and existing support provided for patients following their first admission to hospital for (severe) diabetic foot ulceration (DFU). Diabetic foot ulceration is a common complication of diabetes mellitus and is defined as a full thickness wound through the dermis skin layer of the foot (Lipsky et al. 2015). The study will use a qualitative approach using semi- structured interviews to investigate the psychological, social and emotional experiences of individuals following this complication of diabetes.
Previous studies have reported wide reaching psychosocial issues which are linked to poor wound healing, negative self care behaviours and quality of life (Walburn et al 2009; Ali et al 2010). Diabetes UK found that 76% of people with diabetes felt they had not been offered psychological or emotional support when they required it (Diabetes UK 2016). By investigating this cohort of people, and whether any gaps in support provision exist; it may be possible to address some of these psychosocial issues in subsequent patients earlier on in their treatment journey.
A purposive sample of 6-8 patients that have had an admission to St Thomas’ Hospital in London for their first episode of a severe DFU within the past 8 weeks will be recruited. The data will be collected by conducting approximately one- hour semi structured interviews using a prompt sheet. The data will be collected within the hospital departments that participants will be attending for their weekly wound review. The participants will be invited to discuss what life has been like during this time period. The audiotapes will be transcribed using data analysis software into a word document format. The content of these interviews will be analysed into codes and then themes which will highlight the key elements from participant data with anonymous quoted examples.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/YH/0034
Date of REC Opinion
23 Jan 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion