The employment experiences of People with COPD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The EMployment experiences of People with chronic Obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (The TEMPO study)
IRAS ID
216306
Contact name
Pamela Kirkpatrick
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Robert Gordon University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
IRAS project ID: 118614, REC reference: 13/NS/0139
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 3 days
Research summary
COPD is a common disease with almost 3 million people in the UK estimated to have it but only 1.2 million having a confirmed diagnosis. Severe and unpleasant symptoms are experienced by people with COPD including breathlessness, coughing, mucus production, low oxygenation, physical and social dysfunction and often psychological conditions including stress, anxiety and depression. These affect the daily functioning of sufferers, reduce their quality of life and also their ability to work effectively and maintain their employment status. COPD, which is associated with a low socioeconomic status and surprisingly 50% of sufferers are under 65 years old and of an age where meaningful and satisfying employment is anticipated and, from an economic and social perspective, expected. Around 40% of people have to give up work prematurely because of their COPD.
This study explores the experiences of people with COPD who continue working or have to stop working because of their COPD and provide a meaningful understanding of the various situations and contexts that people with COPD encounter. In other words, the study is looking at ‘what matters’ to people with COPD in relation to their employment experiences rather than ‘what’s the matter with you’. No published literature on this specific topic currently exists thus, the objectives of the study are to add to the large body of knowledge on COPD (mainly clinically oriented) and begin to address this gap providing an original contribution through illustrating the voices of the participants.
This will provide outcomes that, through better understanding, will lead to recommendations for policy and practice that can be tested out in future research studies (or a series of studies in the case of workplace interventions) and has potential to have a significant impact on health, well-being and quality-of-life outcomes.
REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SW/0168
Date of REC Opinion
8 Aug 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion