Thesis: Experiencing radiotherapy: quality of care from the perspective of patients with cancer receiving radiotherapy
Sollid’s thesis explores the experiences of patients with cancer receiving radiotherapy. Patients’ experiences are described through their depictions relayed in interviews or through their responses to a paper questionnaire. The thesis also explores what factors may be important to how patients experience the health care services they receive. May Ingvild Volungholen Sollid defended her thesis at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (NTNU), Department of Health Sciences Gjøvik on June 13th, 2023.
The project had an explorative, descriptive design, and both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Qualitative data were collected through patient interviews, and also individual and group interviews with cancer nurses. Quantitative data were collected using a paper questionnaire survey. The survey comprised three different questionnaires: the Person-centered coordinated care questionnaire (P3CEQ), the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) and the Sense of Coherence (SOC)-13 questionnaire.
The main results show that patients with cancer receiving radiotherapy are overall experiencing good healthcare quality. Factors that may impact patients’ experience with services seem to be previous experiences with healthcare services, accessible information, cooperation and coordination of healthcare services, person-centeredness, support, marital status, and sense of coherence. Patients’ age was not associated with their experiences of healthcare services. We have identified possible areas of improvement in health care services for patients with cancer receiving radiotherapy, which are person-centeredness and service coordination. We have identified and validated the instrument P3CEQ in a Norwegian radiotherapy setting, and we found the instrument to be valid and reliable.
May Ingvild Volungholen Sollid (39) is from Stange, Innlandet. She is a nurse and hold a master’s degree in health sciences from NTNU Gjøvik from 2018. She holds a position as associate professor at the department of Health Sciences in Gjøvik (NTNU), and as a post-doctoral researcher at The Research Center for Age-Related Functional Decline and Disease, Innlandet Hospital Trust.
Supervisors
Main supervisor:
Professor Øyvind Kirkevold, The Research Center for Age-Related Functional Decline and Disease, Innlandet Hospital Trust; Norwegian Advisory Unit on Ageing and Health, Vestfold Hospital Trust; Department of Health Sciences in Gjøvik, NTNU.
Co-supervisor:
Professor Emerita Marit Slaaen, The Research Centre for Age Related Functional Decline and Diseases, Innlandet Hospital Trust; Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo.
Professor Grethe Eilertsen, USN Research Group of Older Peoples’ Health, University of South-Eastern Norway, Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, University of South-Eastern Norway.
Associate Professor II Signe Danielsen, Department of Oncology, St. Olavs Hospital, Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
