Developing information resources for radiotherapy

Project title: A patient and carer information resource for patients undergoing radiotherapy following a breast cancer diagnosis: The Respire + project.

What’s the project about?

A few years ago, researchers at Sheffield Hallam University created resources to help people prepare for radiotherapy on a website called Respire.

The website was received well by patients and radiotherapy departments, and now they’re seeking to expand it. They’d like to include information about skin care, and breast or trunk lymphoedema.

They researchers are planning to develop a series of web-based videos or other resources so people feel better prepared and able to alert healthcare staff where necessary.

They want to hear what information people received about skin care or about breast or trunk lymphoedema when undergoing radiotherapy. They also want to find out what information could have helped people look for changes in their skin, breast or trunk. And, what future patients would find helpful in a web-based resource.

Who can take part?

You can take part if you’ve had radiotherapy for breast cancer in the last 10 years.

Why do you want me to be involved?

It’s important to learn from people's previous experiences and gain their views to create resources about skin reactions and lymphoedema signs and symptoms.

This is so that a single place exists for patients and healthcare professionals to access evidence-based information in an engaging and useful way.

What will you ask me to do?

If you decide to take part, you’ll be asked to complete a short questionnaire about your personal details, such as where you live, age, ethnicity and gender. Then, you’ll be invited to attend 1 workshop in on either skin care or breast or trunk lymphoedema. 

Depending on your availability, the workshops will be held on one of these dates: 

• Thursday 25 July from 2pm to 4pm 
• Monday 29 July from 1pm to 3pm 
• Tuesday 30 July from 10am to 12pm 

The workshops will be held in the Sheffield Hallam University’s Charles Street building.

If you're not able to come in person, or to make the above times, the researchers would still like to hear your thoughts. They can organise an online workshop or 1-2-1 interview to best suit your availability and needs. 

The workshops will last for a maximum of 2 hours, and will include members of the project team and around 10 patient representatives (people who have undergone radiotherapy for breast cancer). The workshop will also be audio-recorded.

To help you think about how prepared you were for side effects of radiotherapy, the researchers will ask you to make some notes on a diagram before the workshop.

After the workshop, you may be asked your opinion on themes that were identified from the workshop discussions.