Supporting the emotional needs of renal patients v.1.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Integrating emotional and psychological support into the end-stage renal disease pathway: use of mixed methods to identify what support is most effective to meet patients' lower-level needs
IRAS ID
184996
Contact name
Gill Combes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 4 months, 17 days
Research summary
There is robust evidence that patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) experience significant emotional and psychological difficulties, which untreated can have considerable negative impact on their health and wellbeing. Less research exists about the specific support that patients need and want, from whom, at which points in the ESRD pathway. There is also little data about what helps or hinders renal staff in identifying and responding to their patients’ needs.
The purpose of this NIHR CLAHRC-funded project is to evaluate what, when and how support for patients with lower-level emotional and psychological needs should be integrated into the ESRD pathway. The research will involve three linked studies, and answer the following questions -
Study 1: What support is needed and wanted, when and by which patients with ESRD who have lower-level emotional and psychological needs?
Study 2: What helps or hinders renal staff in identifying and responding to patients with ESRD who have lower-level emotional and psychological needs, and how can barriers to this be overcome?
Study 3: Can an intervention designed to support the lower-level emotional and psychological needs of patients with ESRD, have a positive effect on patients’ emotional distress and adjustment?Mixed research methods will be employed for each of the studies. Patients at five different points across the ESRD pathway, and renal staff working with them, will be studied. Four NHS Trusts have expressed interest in participating in the research.
The findings from Study 1, involving ESRD patients, and Study 2, involving renal staff working with ESRD patients, will be complementary and enable an intervention to support ESRD patients with lower-level emotional and psychological needs to be developed, implemented and evaluated in Study 3. The results from Studies 1 and 2 will also provide a baseline, pre-intervention, against which to measure results, post-intervention, from Study 3.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/WM/0288
Date of REC Opinion
7 Oct 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion