What can I control in my life when I am a hospice patient? (V1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A Qualitative Study of the Experiences of Patients in a Hospice
IRAS ID
201325
Contact name
Robert Elliott
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Strathclyde
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
When a person is diagnosed with an illness that cannot be cured, they have to face
new circumstances that can bring unwanted changes in how they live their life.
This can make them feel powerless.
The main aim of this study is to discover and understand how hospice patients are
able to influence their feelings, thoughts and actions in ways that will help them.
Being able to assess their circumstances and decide what is important for them
may help them to live the best they can and for as long as they can with a lifelimiting
illness. A secondary aim is to modify and elaborate the results of a
previous pilot study conducted in St. Andrew’s Hospice.
In the previous study (4 female participants: 3 diagnosed with cancer and 1 with
multiple sclerosis) we found a hierarchy of 8 distinct levels of how hospice
patients were able, through making use of their own feelings, thoughts and actions,
to improve their everyday living with an incurable illness.
This study will also to be carried out at St. Andrew’s Hospice. We will use a
sample of 8 patients (4 each from Day Hospice and In-ward) and to include male
and female patients and diagnosed with different life-limiting illnesses.
As a discourse analysis study, we will focus on the language used by participants
during Emotion-Focused Therapy sessions. This therapy places importance on
how participants react to their circumstances and what is important for them.
Discourse analysis will be based on a grounded theory approach, with the
explanation of the results informed by the study data. We will analyse the data of
each participant separately to identify main and sub-categories of how participants
sense themselves as being able to improve the quality of their remaining life.REC name
South East Scotland REC 01
REC reference
16/SS/0118
Date of REC Opinion
23 Aug 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion