The development of an intervention to enable and encourage healthcare professionals to provide appropriate support and information about sexual issues to cancer survivors and their intimate partners.

While supportive care for cancer survivors has improved greatly in recent years, it is still not as good as it could be. A common experience is that, once active treatment has been completed, contact with professional carers tails off leaving patients and their partners feeling anxious and unsupported. The reluctance of healthcare professionals to address sexually-related topics means that this is a particularly neglected area of supportive care. This is a significant problem because many cancers and their treatments have profound effects on patients’ sex lives. These effects can be physical (frequently relating to loss or reduction of sexual functioning) and/or psychological (frequently relating to self-image).
In response to this unmet need, this project aims to develop an intervention to enable and encourage healthcare professionals to provide appropriate support and information about sexual issues to cancer survivors and their intimate partners.
In order to ensure that the intervention has a sound evidence base, the project will involve uncovering what the various needs of cancer survivors are, along with the best methods for meeting those needs. We will also examine how healthcare professionals can be best supported to meet those needs.

How to apply:

Applications are made via our website using the Apply Online button below. If you have an enquiry about this project please contact us via the Email NOW button below, however your application will only be processed once you have submitted an application form as opposed to emailing your CV to us.

Candidates for a PhD Studentship should demonstrate outstanding qualities and be motivated to complete a PhD in 4 years and must demonstrate:

• Outstanding academic potential as measured normally by either a 1st class honours degree (or equivalent Grade Point Average (GPA) or a Master’s degree with distinction or equivalent
• An IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 minimum (with a minimum 6.0 in each component, or equivalent) for candidates for whom English is not their first language and this must be evidenced at point of application.

Additional eligibility: It is desirable that candidates should be registered (or eligible for registration) as a nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and that they should have experience in providing cancer care.