King's College London and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) are doing a study on the use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in cancer care and are looking to include the voices of (former) cancer patients.
Why is this important?
PROMs (Patient-Reported Outcome Measures) or ‘questionnaires’ allow patients to share how they’re feeling - physically, emotionally, and in daily life. They help doctors and nurses better understand what matters most to patients. However, there are challenges in using them effectively, like time constraints, unclear systems, and lack of training for healthcare providers.
This study wants to find practical solutions to those challenges - so PROMs can be used more effectively in cancer care. By hearing from both patients and professionals, the researchers hope to figure out the best ways to make PROMs a regular and useful part of treatment.
They're looking for patient representatives who have experience with PROMs. This may include:
- Completing PROMs questionnaires
- Discussing results with clinicians
- Receiving feedback or referrals based on their scores
These experiences could have occurred before, during, or after treatment.
Participants will be asked to complete four short online surveys over several weeks:
- Survey 1 – Choosing the most important things that help or get in the way of using PROMs in cancer care (about 20 minutes)
- Surveys 2 to 4 – Suggesting ways to improve how PROMs are used (about 25 minutes each)
If you're interested in participating, please visit https://ugent.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Y8OeYZEEaDwr3w
Or feel free to contact the researchers for more information (elke.rammant@ugent.be).