Nursing and Patient Care Research

Lead: Dr Anne Lanceley

A strand of nursing and patient care research within Gynaecological Cancer Research pre-dates the foundation of the Institute for Women’s Health. Dr. Lanceley was appointed Senior Lecturer in Women’s Cancer in 2008 to consolidate this work and lead expansion of a distinct Nursing and Patient Care Research Group within Gynaecological Cancer Research.

Nursing and Patient Care Research is research which investigates the experiences of individuals in health and illness, with emphasis on health–related quality of life and the role of care givers - self, family, and professionals - in health promotion and disease management.

We are committed to develop a research programme which challenges routinised accounts of women’s health, and tests new ways of working with women. The purpose of this is on the one hand, to enable women to more actively manage their own health, and on the other, to contribute to an understanding of how health professionals can work to support this, while offering first class clinical care.

Key areas of research activity and current projects:

Innovations in patient care delivery

• RCT of conventional versus individualized follow-up after primary treatment for ovarian cancer commenced 2006.

Quality of life in women’s cancer

• European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) funded international multi-disciplinary collaboration to design a quality of life instrument specific to women with endometrial cancer. The project is in its final Phase IV.
• Heritage in Hospitals project investigating the therapeutic potential and benefit of heritage-object handling in a range of care settings.

Symptoms in women’s cancer

• A prospective study to assess the prevalence of symptoms in apparently health women in the UKCTOCS cohort and correlate these with the subsequent development of ovarian cancer. The study utilises a questionnaire developed using EORTC guidelines.
• A survey of complementary therapy use for menopausal symptoms in 10,000 women (with and without cancer).

Future Plans

Research

• To expand work to evaluate a wider range of innovative solutions to patient problems to enhance health and influence health policy. For example: alternative models of follow-up care in gynaecological cancer taking account of new treatment regimens; and nutritional support in women treated for ovarian cancer.
• To explore different methodological approaches to the evaluation of heritage-object handling in acute hospital settings.
• To develop theory concerning suffering and symptom burden that will inform ways of helping in women’s cancer.

Building research capacity in Nursing and Patient Care Research

• Expansion in nursing and patient care research in Women’s Health forms a major strand in the UCL Partner wide strategy for nursing, midwifery and allied health professional clinical academic career development. For example the research activity described above is directly linked to the Patient Care Research and Innovation Centre (PCRIC) funded by the Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre (CBRC), and established in 2008 under the Directorship of Professor Linda Franck, Professor and Chair of Children’s Nursing. Please follow the links to find out more about PCRIC more
• We provide research training in the form of exciting new post-graduate courses. MSc/MRes/PGDip programmes in ‘Clinical and Experimental Medicine: Translational Clinical Science Stream’  offer graduates from a range of clinical backgrounds training to develop research skills to bring about health care practice change for patient benefit. more