The Experience of Pancreatic Cancer Patients and their Partners.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring how pancreatic cancer patients and their partners make sense of their experience following a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
IRAS ID
342498
Contact name
Aikaterini Zikidi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Surrey
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
There are only a limited number of studies exploring the impact of living with a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. At the same time, we are aware that despite the progression of medical interventions (including surgical removal and chemotherapy protocols) disease prognosis and survival rates are poor compared to many other cancers (American Cancer Society, 2023; Park et al., 2021).
Patients live with the disease across a trajectory of a few months to years but little is known on the course of psychological and life-related changes that follow their diagnosis. While cancer-specific trajectory models have not yet been established, it is important to consider the life-transitions involved in this process for the patient and their family members.
There only a few studies exploring the experience and adaptation process of patients and of their romantic partners, following a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. The few existing studies have either used a mixed-cancer sample (Porter et al., 2022) or implemented questionnaires to describe the experiences and the ongoing impact of the cancer for patient-partner dyads (Li et al., 2023).
In this project we aim to qualitatively explore (through 1-1 interviews) the experiences of pancreatic cancer patients and their romantic partners at least three months after diagnosis. We hope to gather data to explore not only how those patients and their life partners adjusted to the disease but also the impact of their similar or different coping strategies in the relationship. Lastly, we will investigate areas where participants feel like they would have benefited from additional support.REC name
Wales REC 4
REC reference
24/WA/0257
Date of REC Opinion
11 Nov 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion