Student (MPhil): Patrick Cronin
Supervisor: Dr Simon Payne
Location: Aberystwyth University
Cancer type: Lung
Start and End Date: Sep 2017 – Sep 2018
Lung cancer nurses face a daunting task: half of people with Lung Cancer die within six months of diagnosis, 75% within one year, and five-year survival rates are ~9% (Macmillan Cancer Support, 2014); how do you support patients positively when you – and they, presumably – know how bleak their chances are?
Our colleagues in IBERS and Hywel Dda University Health Board (HDUHB) are collaborating with Tenovus Cancer Care to rectify the early identification problem that contributes to these alarming figures, but we propose a simultaneous social science research theme that will help those nurses who work on the ‘front line’ of this struggle. This research will identify psychological techniques that nurses can be trained to deliver to improve the coping capacity of their patients and thus improve their post-diagnosis outlook and experience.
A secondary aim is to establish IBERS, with Tenovus Cancer Care a close affiliate, as a beacon of innovative cancer research which foregrounds the individuals involved and not their disease.
