A Mixed Methods Study of Inequalities Experienced by People with Cancer and Palliative Care Needs

Qualification Type: PhD
Location: Lancaster
Funding for: UK Students
Funding amount: £19,000 – please see advert
Hours: Full Time
Placed On: 7th July 2022
Closes: 4th August 2022

Aim of PhD
A fully funded NWCR PhD which explores and determines the factors associated with inequalities experienced by people with cancer, with particular focus on delays in recognising palliative care needs. This is a novel PhD which will develop expertise in high quality mixed research methods and in health inequalities.

Background
Early palliative care in cancer consistently leads to better patient and caregiver outcomes but often the need for palliative care is not recognised. Socioeconomic position and other factors are known to have an impact on accessing palliative care services and place of death, but these factors have mostly been investigated regarding access to specialist palliative care services or data using hospital records. The global pandemic and the recent report from the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Whitty have highlighted the urgent need to tackle health inequalities in coastal communities. This project will use a unique large dataset of primary care and linked secondary care data and qualitative interviews, to explore inequalities in recognising palliative care need among people with cancer in a coastal area of North West England.

What the student will do?
The student will conduct a mixed method study with three concurrent phases and a final consensus and prioritisation of recommendations phase. There is some flexibility in the approach, depending on the student’s interests.

Phase 1 is a systematic literature review to identify factors associated with inequalities in recognising a need for palliative care among people with cancer.
Phase 2 is a cross sectional analysis of contemporaneously collected GP and linked hospital records of cancer decedents (2018-2020) in a North West area to determine the impact of patient characteristics (e.g. age, gender, social deprivation) on outcomes relevant to palliative care (such as recognition of palliative care, death in hospital and hospital admissions in the last year of life).
Phase 3 uses in-depth interviews with General Practitioners (GPs) in the North West to explore perceived factors associated with inequalities in recognising when a palliative care approach is needed.
Phase 4 utilises the results from phases 1-3 with a panel of key stakeholders (clinicians, policy makers, commissioners, academics and research partners) to identify and develop recommendations about how the factors associated with inequalities for people with cancer can be overcome.

Training available
As well as the fortnightly supervision, training is provided across all stages of the programme, with emphasis placed on the elements of particular relevance to this PhD (including research ethics, systematic literature reviews, secondary data analysis, qualitative data collection and analysis etc). Alongside the training offered as part of the Division of Health Research PhD programme, additional quantitative data analysis training and support can be accessed through Lancaster Medical School’s postgraduate courses and from the Maths and Stats Hub (MASH) at Lancaster University.

PhD students within the Faculty of Health and Medicine are encouraged to access a range of interdisciplinary research training from across the university, and to engage with the Lancaster University Doctoral Academy.

Salary and additional benefits
A three year fully funded PhD studentship, which includes UK home tuition fees, stipend of £19,000 per year and all research costs including salary for data analysist and Public Patient Involvement (PPI) coordinator, remuneration for GP participants, equipment and dissemination costs. Total studentship award £99,189.

Eligibility
The award is available to applicants with a home fee status only.
Start date 1st October 2022.

Supervisors
Dr. Amy Gadoud | Lancaster University
Dr. Sarah Brearley | Lancaster University
Dr. Maddy French | Lancaster University

For informal enquires please contact Dr. Amy Gadoud a.gadoud@lancaster.ac.uk.

Selection process
Send CV and supporting letter detailing how your interests and experience relate to the project to Dr Amy Gadoud a.gadoud@lancaster.ac.uk by Thursday 4th August. Interviews will be held via Teams on 11th August. Shortlisted candidates will be asked to give a five minute presentation on: How do social inequalities affect health in the UK?

Watch this video to learn more:

Follow this link for application details.