In this post, Katie Flanagan shares her thoughts on how to prepare for conducting research in a hospice. These are based on her learnings during her first year of her PhD at the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department at University College London, which explores how virtual reality could be used in hospices.
Last September, I embarked on a PhD in palliative care, an area traditionally dominated by medical professionals and usually housed within medical schools. My background experience is different to many of my peers (before pursuing a master’s degree in psychology, I worked in think tanks researching environmental topics like food waste). Although I’ve since had the opportunity to work with people living with illnesses such as dementia and Parkinson’s Disease, as a non-clinical researcher, I haven’t spent as much time in hospices and other medical settings compared to some of my fellow students, who have years of experience working in healthcare. This will be my first time spending significant time among people with life-limiting illnesses. I was nervous about the emotional toll this would take on me, as well as the possibility of inadvertently upsetting my participants. Although the mandatory training at the start of my PhD covered topics like digital literacy and open science, it didn’t help much with these concerns; it didn’t address the challenges of working with vulnerable groups or the potential for researcher burnout.
I’ve sought out advice and undertaken a number of actions to develop new skills, build my resilience and prepare me for research in a hospice. I hope these will help other researchers, especially those from a non-clinical background.
- Get support from other PhD students. They can offer practical and emotional support and can share tips on navigating the unique challenges of palliative care research.
- Be honest with your supervisor about your concerns. Sharing my anxieties and seeking guidance from my PhD supervisors helped ease my anxiety and identify solutions, such as establishing clinical supervision.
- Establish regular supervision with someone outside of your PhD supervisory team who can provide clinical and pastoral support throughout your research placement. My supervisor helped me identify staff members who were psychologists or psychiatrists who could offer this support.
- Visit your research hospice or healthcare setting before starting your research to become comfortable in the environment. Getting to know the hospice staff will mean you can benefit from their knowledge and experience and can help ensure your research is grounded in reality.
- Connect with people outside of your discipline. I engaged with researchers from other fields by joining a monthly call hosted by the Association for the Study of Death and Society for students studying topics related to death and dying. This group has not only offered support but speaking with people from a variety of backgrounds has offered inspiration and new perspectives. Attending public talks and death cafés also boosted my confidence in discussing sensitive topics.
- Prioritise development of ‘soft’ skills. It’s easy (at least it was for me), to fall into the trap of thinking that you need to be an expert in every facet of your PhD before you start you research. It’s important to remember that a PhD is a training degree where you develop skills through doing your research. Developing soft skills like making small talk and helping participants feel comfortable may be just as important to developing a successful research project as learning the more technical aspects, so remember to prioritise developing these skills.
- Research online resources that may help. I found the resources created by the Researcher Wellbeing Project really useful in helping me think through how I would protect myself and participants.
Starting a PhD in palliative care without a clinical background can be challenging but also deeply rewarding. By seeking support, communicating openly, and focusing on soft skills, you can navigate the emotional and practical challenges of palliative care research…and perhaps bringing a new and different perspective can be a valuable contribution in itself.
Links and Resources
- Find out more about the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department at University College London (UCL) here.
About the author
Katie Flanagan is a PhD candidate at the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department at UCL. Her PhD is looking at how virtual reality could be used in hospices. She’s interested in technology and end of life care, as well as how to improve the support provided to people with dementia. X: KatieflanaganPC ORCID-ID: 0009-0000-3904-7402.
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