Journal of Palliative Care & Medicine
Open Access

Research Article

An Evaluation of the Current State of Cancer-Related Palliative and Supportive Care Research in the UK

¹Alex Molassiotis, Professor of Cancer & Supportive Care; School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

²Chris Jacobs, Medical Student, School of Medicine, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

*Corresponding Author:

Alexander Molassiotis
RN, PhD, Professor of Cancer & Supportive Care
University of Manchester, School of Nursing
Midwifery & Social Work, University Place
Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Tel: +44 (0)161-3067830
Fax: +44 (0)161-3067894
E-mail: alex.molassiotis@manchester.ac.uk

Received date: April 11, 2012; Accepted date: May 22, 2012; Published date: May 24, 2012

Citation: Molassiotis A, Jacobs C (2012) An Evaluation of the Current State of Cancer-Related Palliative and Supportive Care Research in the UK. J Palliative Care Med 2:112. doi:10.4172/2165-7386.1000112

Copyright: © 2012 Molassiotis A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

The aim of this study was to establish the current state of the research environment in the UK in relation to cancer supportive and palliative care. Three approaches were used to evaluate the current research environment in supportive and palliative care. A) A bibliometric analysiswas conducted on published research output between 2005 and 2010. B) An analysis of the UKCRN portfolio of trials was undertaken to establish the current research environment. C) A questionnaire survey was distributed to research groups in the field with the purpose of mapping the workforce, exploring funding/funding sources and gauging opinions about challenges in supportive and palliative care research. 586 papers met inclusion criteria for the bibliometric analysis, 76 studies were included in the UKCRN portfolio analysis and 36 questionnaires (overall response rate 74.5%) were received from UK research groups. An expansion in research activity is reflected by an increased trend in research output (57% over 5 years) and an increased proportion of studies registered with the NCRN portfolio of trials. Study designs were dominated by observational methods, however, a trend towards increased interventional methods was identified. In the workforce, an aging researcher population was identified and an increased tendency to work in few but large research groups was evident. Group opinions included increased collaboration in the field over the past 5 years, however, the withdrawal of a major funding partner from the field is currently a major challenge for the majority.