Project Area: Health service and technology evaluation
Project Summary
Rehabilitative palliative care integrates rehabilitation principles into palliative care and end-of-life care for people with life-limiting illness. Rehabilitative palliative care assists people to live as independently as possible and to adapt to changes associated with deteriorating health. The escalating global burden of serious illness means that the number of people needing to access palliative care including rehabilitative palliative care will grow exponentially. It remains unclear how rehabilitative palliative care is best delivered for people with palliative care needs in Ireland and in conjunction with support organisations and networks within and outside of the healthcare services. Frameworks for rehabilitative palliative care have yet to be developed in Ireland.
The overall aim of the project is to develop a framework for the provision of rehabilitative palliative care in Ireland. The project will encompass a mixed-methods approach with interconnected work packages. First, a mixed-methods systematic review of rehabilitative palliative care interventions and/or services, their components, delivery, and key stakeholder (patient, caregiver, healthcare professional) perceptions of these interventions and/or services, will be conducted. The systematic review findings will directly inform the conduct of a qualitative study of patients’, caregivers’ and healthcare professionals’ appraisal and expectations of rehabilitative palliative care services, including expectations pertaining to continuity of rehabilitative palliative care between general and specialist care services. A co-design workshop comprising PPI representatives, clinical and policy experts, and not-for-profit organisations supporting palliative care delivery in Ireland will be conducted. The co-design workshop will develop, expand on, and substantiate key findings from the qualitative study pertaining to quality, continuity, responsiveness, and interconnectedness of rehabilitative palliative care services. Consensus on the key domains identified from the qualitative study and the co-design workshop will be established through a 3-round modified e-Delphi study of national and international experts in rehabilitative palliative care. The work packages combined will form a framework for rehabilitative palliative care in Ireland that integrates specialist palliative care, general palliative care, and relevant support services.
Audiences for maximum knowledge exchange will include patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, voluntary sector, government/health policy representatives, and national and international advocacy groups in the field. The expertise gained by the PhD scholar in conducting the research will enable the PhD scholar to build rapidly on their outputs from the project and to establish a strong research trajectory in health policy and health systems research in and beyond the field of palliative care.
Skills Required
(If applying for this project you will be asked to outline how you meet the skills required below)
For the proposed project, there are specific skills required for the PhD project. These are as follows:
Essential skills:
- Experience of undertaking quantitative research or qualitative research or both in either a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree.
- Strong organisational skills and the ability to set and adhere to research goals.
- Strong English language writing skills.
- Strong verbal communication skills.
- Excellent computer skills in Microsoft Office programmes.
- Highly- and self-motivated with the ability to work as part of a team.
- Able to take initiative when working alone.
- Able to establish appropriate documentation and record keeping.
Desirable skills:
- Prior experience of conducting or of having been involved in conducting research with vulnerable populations.
- Prior experience of conducting or of having been involved in conducting research with people who live with illness and/or their caregivers.
- Prior experience of conducting research or having been involved in conducting research with policy makers.
- Prior experience of engaging public and patient involvement (PPI) in research activities.
- Knowledge of the range of ethical considerations relevant to the conduct of research with patients and/or their caregivers.
- Experience of disseminating research (e.g. conference presentations, conference papers, journal publications, poster presentations).
- Authorship (at any point in authorships list) of research outputs (e.g. conference/oral presentations, conference papers, journal publications, poster presentations).
- Experience of using software programmes that assist in the management and analysis of data (e.g. NVivo, SPSS, Qualtrics).
- Experience of engaging with gatekeepers in the conduct of research.
- Understanding of project management and of project management techniques for a research project.
- Familiarity with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for conducting research in Ireland.
- Experience of working in or conducting research with public or private or non-for-profit sectors surrounding delivery of healthcare and/or implementation of services.
Supervisory team:
Dr Geraldine Foley, BSc.OT, MSc, MA, PhD, FTCD, PI/Primary Supervisor
Associate Professor in Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin.
Dr Geraldine Foley’s research is situated in the field of life-limiting illness focused on stakeholder need, care preferences, and decision-making in palliative care, including but not limited to neuro-palliative care, rehabilitative palliative care, palliative care in cancer, specialist palliative care, and end-of-life care. Dr Foley has a high level of expertise and a keen interest in health systems research and health service delivery for people with life-limiting illness. To date, her work has delivered over 55 peer-reviewed publications and over 50 conference presentations. She is Vice Chair of the Strategic Scientific Committee of the Palliative Care Research Network (PCRN) of the All-Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care.
Co-supervisor
Dr Emer Guinan, BSc.Physio, P. Dip (Statistics), PhD
Associate Professor in Cancer Rehabilitation and Survivorship, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin.
Dr Emer Guinan’s research is both in intervention development and evaluation of services to manage unmet cancer survivorship needs. A CORU registered physiotherapist, her work has delivered over 100 peer-reviewed publications. Dr Guinan is tasked with responsibility for building capacity in cancer survivorship research and education across the Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute (TSJCI). She is also the Associate Director for Postgraduate Teaching and Learning in the School of Medicine responsible for PhD studies. She is the invited Chair of the Inaugural International Gastric Cancer Association Working Group for Prehabilitation.
Co-supervisor
Professor Karen Ryan, MB BCh BAO BMed Sc FRCPI
Full Clinical Professor, School of Medicine, University College Dublin.
Consultant in Palliative Medicine, St. Francis Hospice Dublin, and Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin.
Professor Karen Ryan’s principal research interests lie in the field of health services research and in identifying the most effective ways to organise, manage and deliver high quality palliative care, including rehabilitative palliative care. Professor Karen Ryan has served as Chair of the National Adult Palliative Care Policy Steering Committee responsible for producing of the National Adult Palliative Care Policy and is former Clinical Lead of the National Palliative Care Programme, Directorate of Clinical Strategy and Programmes.
This project is based in TCD
