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Let it Out: using mixed-methods to develop and evaluate an online psychological intervention for people receiving hospice care during the pandemic
Seminar details
Daisy McInnerney gave the QHRN seminar on the 8th December 2021.
Title: Let it Out: using mixed-methods to develop and evaluate an online psychological intervention for people receiving hospice care during the pandemic
Date: 8th December 2021
Time: 12:00-13:00
Location: Zoom
Abstract
In this talk, I will present the mixed-methods approach I took to developing and evaluating an emotional disclosure intervention, tailored specifically for people receiving hospice care.
People living with advanced or terminal illness often experience psychological and emotional distress. A key part of the holistic approach to care provided by hospices is supporting people through that distress. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced hospices to look for ways to provide that support remotely.
Emotional disclosure-based interventions hold potential as one way of providing psychological support without face-to-face contact. However, evidence of their efficacy in people with terminal illness is mixed. Reviews have highlighted this may be due to interventions not being tailored to the unique needs of this population. In response to this, over my PhD I developed Let It Out (LIO). LIO is an online, self-guided emotional disclosure-based intervention tailored for adults receiving hospice care.
Following Medical Research Council and INDEX guidelines, I combined insights from a pragmatic review approach (Intervention Component Analysis), a survey of psychological services in UK hospices and stakeholder consultation to develop the prototype intervention. I then conducted a mixed-methods feasibility study and process evaluation to inform the optimisation of the intervention.
During this talk, I will discuss the mixed-methods approach to intervention development and evaluation; lessons learnt from conducting online research during the pandemic; and some of the opportunities and challenges of research in the hospice setting.
Biography
Daisy McInnerney is a Research Fellow in Behavioural Science in the Centre for Prevention, Diagnosis and Detection (Wolfson Institute of Population Health) at QMUL. She is currently working on a project as part of RECONCILE - a multidisciplinary collaboration between local NHS trusts and cancer alliances, academic organisations and the Health Foundation Q Exchange programme, investigating the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer outcomes. In particular, Daisy is exploring how the change from face-to-face to virtual formats for cancer multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings may have affected the effectiveness of group decision making. Daisy is also completing her PhD at the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department in the Division of Psychiatry at UCL; this project focuses on the development and preliminary evaluation of an emotional disclosure-based intervention tailored for people living with terminal illness.