About one in six people with cancer experience the blockage of their intestines by a tumour (malignant bowel obstruction). Making decisions about treatment can be difficult as there are no nationally agreed guidelines.
The EPOC study reviewed existing evidence exploring multidisciplinary care and shared decision-making around bowel obstruction from cancer. The findings were taken forward into an interview study with 64 stakeholders, including patients, caregivers and clinicians, to explore how best to integrate care and facilitate shared treatment decisions. Each stage of the project involved consultation with people experiencing bowel obstruction, their caregivers, and the health care professionals who look after them. Interviews for the study were carried out using visual methods - further details about the Pictor technique are below.
Three resources for patients, caregivers and clinicians have been developed from this project:
- A Patient Navigation Guide, to explain who is involved in the treatment of people with malignant bowel obstruction, and how care happens
- Two videos exploring how good care and shared decision-making happens around patients with bowel obstruction:
Visual methods in research interviews: The Pictor technique
Creating a simple diagram in an interview can sometimes make it easier to talk to a researcher about your experiences.
If you decide to take part in an interview using the Pictor technique, you will be asked use a set of sticky arrows to represent the people involved in an experience with you – for example, if the research study is about health or social care, arrows can be used to represent patients, caregivers and health and social care services.
To see how the technique works, watch this short video, in which a researcher uses Pictor to talk to someone about their experiences of cancer treatment.