The impact of emotional disclosure on the well-being of people with advanced disease and their carers

The Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department (MCPCRD) at University College London (UCL) is seeking an outstanding, highly motivated and enthusiastic candidate for this PhD scholarship. This is an exciting opportunity to undertake a PhD jointly funded by the UCL, Bloomsbury and East London Doctoral Training Partnership (UBEL DTP) and Marie Curie: Care and Support through Terminal Illness. The successful candidate will undertake a mixed methods PhD to develop, explore and understand the potential of a simple therapeutic intervention in palliative care. This will involve:

i) reviewing the evidence on the acceptability and efficacy of expressive writing in people with progressive (advanced or otherwise) chronic diseases and their family carers and to undertake a review of the theoretical frameworks proposed to explain how expressive writing may produce health benefits;
ii) to use these understandings to develop with patients, family carers and health and social care professionals an expressive writing intervention tailored for people with advanced progressive chronic diseases with the aim to produce beneficial improvements in pain, sleep, depression, anxiety and stress, and to minimise any potential adverse effects;
iii) to undertake an exploratory study to test the feasibility and acceptability of the developed expressive writing intervention for people with progressive advanced chronic diseases and their family carers; and
iv) to explore patients’ and family carers’ experiences of completing the expressive writing intervention.

Person specification
Essential criteria
• Fluent in English
• Upper 2:1 (>=65 pass mark) or 1st class undergraduate degree in a relevant health or social science discipline and a Master’s degree in research methodology, public health, or social science topic, expected to be awarded prior to beginning the PhD
• Evidence of
- experience or training in research methodology
- good attention to detail
- excellent organisational, problem-solving and analytical skills
- data management skills
• Willingness to travel for research purposes
• Willingness and ability to work independently and collaboratively
• Willingness and ability to work with Marie Curie for example presenting findings at their conference, meeting trustees and conducting research in their hospices

Desirable criteria
• Experience of working with/conducting mixed methods research with health care professionals and service users
• Experience of conducting systematic reviews
• Experience of working with/conducting and understanding of psychosocial research in clinical populations
• Publications in peer-reviewed academic journals. Please briefly describe your contribution to these in your CV.

Eligibility

Only applicants eligible to pay fees at the UK/EU rate will be considered. You must normally be a national of a European Union (EU) country, or the relevant family member of an EU national, and have been ordinarily resident within the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland for the three year period before the first day of the first academic year of the programme.

Application procedure
Please submit applications citing reference number 1707429, in the following format to Yana Kitova ([Email Address Removed]):
• A CV, including full details of all University grades.
• Contact details for two academic or professional referees.
• A personal statement (750 words maximum) outlining (i) your suitability for the PhD, with reference to the criteria above, (ii) what you hope to achieve from the PhD, (iii) your research experience.
• Please support your application by detailing any relevant modules or courses undertaken, research internships and outputs, or employment.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
Contact details for enquiries and electronic applications (please cite the reference number 1707429):
Contact name: Yana Kitova
Email address: [Email Address Removed]. Tel: 020 7679 9713