BRC Health Experiences Fellow
Dr Louise Locock
Who am I?
I’m Louise Locock, and I’m a researcher with the Health Experiences Research Group at the University of Oxford.
What am I working on with the BRC?
I’ll be interviewing patients taking part in a range of different types of medical research, to help understand more about why they take part, what it’s like for them, what information they need and how they think things could be improved for people involved in research. We will use what we find out to help staff in the Biomedical Research Centre improve their services. The interviews are being video or audio recorded, and we’ll also be making short information films for the BRC website showing a range of people talking about their experiences, and some films of staff explaining what their research is all about. The interviews will also be disseminated through the health experiences website www.healthtalkonline.org
Why is this work important?
We believe that patients making decisions about treatment, taking part in medical research or even about leading a healthier lifestyle find it really useful to see other people talking about the same issues. Someone else who has been through the same thing can be a useful source of information. People who have a serious illness can find it reassuring to hear others talk about how they felt when they were diagnosed, and to know they are not alone with their feelings. Staff watching patients talk can also learn a huge amount and gain new insights. This is the philosophy of www.healthtalkonline.org which we are now bringing to the Biomedical Research Centre. We hope it will give patients a chance to express their views about being involved in research and to make a real difference to how things are done.
Louise talks about her work with the BRC...
