Reflections from CECo's 2008-2009 Scholars

Phil Swarbrick attend the Joint CECo/PCRS conference on "End of Life Decision Making: dilemmas and directions" at the end of January 2009.

The conference hosted over seventy delegates, focusing on aspects relating to the conversations, and their contexts, that do, could or should take place at the end of life. Speakers took complementary approaches; clinical, philosophical, ethical and legal, and were drawn from many areas of professional practice; medicine, nursing, palliative care organisation and research. Twelve posters presented widely varying methodologies for examining end of life situations and attracted much interest. The conference brought together early and experienced researchers from UK-based and international institutions. The experience was excellent for placing my own PhD study within the wider current research field. It was gratifying to have my work commented on by experienced researchers and even more so to receive a second place commendation for my first ever poster.
Dr. Philomena Ball, PhD Student with the International Observatory on End of Life Care, Lancaster University

Reflections from CECo's 2006-2007 Scholars

I am currently nearing the end of my part-time CECo Scholarship which I am studying at the University of Liverpool within the Academic Palliative and Supportive Care Studies Group (APSCSG) under the supervision of Professor Mari Lloyd-Williams and mentorship of Dr John Hughes. So far I have found this experience has been a valuable insight into the world of research and allowed me to develop my understanding of research methods as well as spending time in a real research department. In my job as a mental health worker I designed a self-help guide for cancer patients which lead me to develop an interest in the psychological needs of cancer patients. However prior to commencement of the scholarship, although always having a interest in research, I had not had an opportunity to conduct much research therefore this scholarship has enabled me to gain experience within the area that I would not otherwise have had. By attending CECo meetings and courses I have also been able to meet with other researchers and find out more about what other research is being conducted and other areas of interest. Currently I have been working towards writing a proposal for a PhD which we are hopeful about obtaining funding for which again is something that I would not have had the opportunity to do without the Scholarship.

Although I am now nearing the end of my time on the Scholarship there is still much to look forward to with poster presentations at 2 conferences as well as a number of CECo meetings and conferences looming. Many thanks to all at CECo and the University of Liverpool, particularly everyone within Academic Palliative and Supportive Care Studies Group for their help and support during the Scholarship.
Lorna Higgins, Primary Care Graduate Mental Health Worker, Wirral Primary Care Trust

The CECo Scholarship aims to help health care professionals develop their research ideas and submit an application for a research grant of PhD studentship award. With the support and guidance of experience CECo researchers, I plan to write a research proposal and submit an applications for a PhD training studentship. The Scholarship is for three months and I am being mentored and supervised by Prof. Kinta Beaver at the University of Manchester.

The PhD proposal will be based on the findings from preliminary work that I have undertaken. This exploratory work investigated patients’ and clinicians’ attitudes towards follow-up service provision following treatment for ovarian cancer with a specific focus on the acceptability of telephone follow-up by specialist nurses. The data generated from this study highlighted two very different perspectives regarding follow-up care. Clinicians felt that current follow-up procedures were not meeting the needs of the patient and welcomed the idea of nurse-led clinics and telephone consultations for asymptomatic patients. The patient group were divided in their views: patients who were confident, well informed and supported appeared to be less worried about a change in follow-up procedures than those who were not.

With clinical support from a regional cancer hospital and academic support from my mentor and the Macmillan Research Unit at the University of Manchester, I plan to explore these issues further. I hope to investigate whether different types of follow-up care are positively or negatively associated with self-care and quality of life, with a view to making recommendations for best practice in this important area of care.
Anne-Marie Lydon, Macmillan Research Associate, Macmillan Research Unit, School of Nursing Midwifery and Social Work, University of Manchester