Healthcare Communications
Services to support user engagement
At the Centre for Health and Lifestyle Interventions we have a strong interest in the importance of user engagement and healthcare communications and and have several projects that are examining this closely.
Project Leads
Professor Louise Wallace, BA, MBA, PhD C. Psychol., FBPsS. Professor of Psychology and Health L.Wallace@coventry.ac.uk. Tel: 024 7688 8718
Dr Belinda Hacking, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, ARC HLI and Edinburgh Cancer Centre
Belinda.Hacking@luht.scot.nhs.uk
Research Team at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre
Sarah Shepherd, PhD Student: shephe17@uni.coventry.ac.uk
Sarah Scott, Patient Navigator and Research Assistant: aa6010@coventry.ac.uk
Debra Bowyer, Patient Navigator and Research Assistant: ab0379@coventry.ac.uk
Projects
A Navigation Intervention for breast cancer patients in Scotland
A Decision Navigation Intervention for prostate cancer patients in Scotland
Patient Information Navigation for malignant brain tumour patients
Trialling a Patient Information Navigation Intervention for colorectal cancer patients
About our Research
Recent UK healthcare policies reflect the need for clinical consultations to move towards shared approaches to decision making, recognising patients as experts of their own health and treatment preferences. Despite this, interventions to facilitate patient involvement in decision making are lacking in clinical practice.
Originating from the University of California (UCSF), ‘Navigation’ empowers cancer patients to prepare for, and participate in medical consultations and treatment decision making.
Navigation is being trialled in Edinburgh with people newly diagnosed with prostate, breast, colorectal or malignant brain cancer.
Working with patients prior to consultations, Navigators assist patients in generating a personalised agenda or ‘Consultation Plan’ for their doctor using a generic question prompt sheet called SCOPED (www.scoped.org). The navigator uses a neutral, non-directive method to engage the patient in developing and listing specific questions [www.slctprocess.org].
The Consultation Plan is given to the doctor prior to the consultation and clearly communicates the patient’s unique preferences, questions and concerns about treatment, while also explicitly clarifying the patients’ preference for involvement in decision making.
Patients are accompanied to consultations by the navigator, who provides them with personalised information in the form of an audio-recording of the physician-patient discussion, as well as typed consultation summary.