Dr Julie Hendry
Dr Julie Hendry
The College of Radiographers Industry Partnership Scheme offers radiographers from across the UK the chance to get involved in the insight and innovations that drive forward service delivery across the profession.
With the support of the college, researchers can take the time they need to develop novel projects at the cutting edge of radiography, investigating those areas that can deliver quality improvement and knowledge applicable everywhere.
Dr Julie Hendry, associate professor and professional lead for radiotherapy and oncology at the Tooting campus of City St George’s, University of London, has become one such researcher to benefit from the funding CoRIPS offers. Inspired by her doctorate, completed in December 2022, Julie is looking to investigate the perceptions of caring radiotherapy as part of her project, titled ‘Exploring Perceptions and Experiences of Person-Centred Caring in Radiotherapy’.
That project, however, was limited by the scope of her doctorate to just educators’ perspectives. Now, Julie explains, she wants to explore everyone’s views, and CoRIPS is allowing her to do just that.
Julie spoke to Dr Emma Hyde, associate professor of learning, teaching and pedagogy at the University of Derby, to discuss a similar massive open online course (MOOC) that Emma had produced as a result of her own CoRIPS project. Discovering the potential of a MOOC for sharing the results and advice that a project such as Julie’s could bring – free online courses available for anyone to enrol in – Julie knew what she had to do next. With Emma’s aid, alongside that of senior lecturer in radiotherapy and oncology Chandini Kumari-Webster, Julie began her efforts to spread the word of what caring means in an academic setting.
A study in caring
Julie’s research sought to complement Emma’s CoRIPS project, which was a similar study in perceptions of caring but focused on diagnostic radiography rather than radiotherapy.
The radiotherapy study, which is currently awaiting approval from the ethics committee at St George’s, is set to ask patients, clinical Therapeutic Radiographers, service managers, radiotherapy students and educators to select from a series of attitudinal statements around caring, appropriate both before or during radiotherapy treatment. These statements will be issued in a two-stage study – the first a questionnaire distributed via social media and patient groups rather than targeting people directly by email. The second stage will consist of focus groups, using the valuable information discovered over the course of the first stage to “drill down and find the richness” of what caring means.
Once the results of those studies have been identified, the learning will be transformed into a MOOC run through the University of Derby and St George’s websites to become part of the curriculum for students and continuing professional development for radiographers. “We want to get person-centredness back on the radar of everyone,” says Julie. “The NHS has been chronically underfunded, and staff are struggling. They’re getting burnt out. You need to look after yourself to be able to look after your patients.
“I want to bring us back to what the grassroots of healthcare is supposed to be. We’re there to help people in their darkest hour with a diagnosis of cancer, and we need to make that awful experience as good as it can possibly be. When that happens, staff benefit as well.”
What is caring?
From her doctorate, Julie saw some emerging themes around caring. Educators came into teaching with an attitude centred on caring for and caring about their patients, Julie says. It was that very desire that brought them to radiotherapy – they wanted to care for people. Moving from the clinical setting to the educational setting, she adds, allowed them to bring that focus on caring for patients to their students.
Hearing these experiences, Julie realised there was a two-pronged perception of caring – the ‘for’ prong and the ‘about’ prong. Caring for is very much the task-based aspect, ensuring patients have a dressing fitted properly and making sure their appointments are scheduled and their treatment is completed correctly.
But caring about is a much broader concept. “It’s Mrs Ahmed, who’s got a dog and a grandson. You know them as an individual. It’s holistic; it’s based on a connection,” explains Julie. “It’s a therapeutic relationship with them; it’s individualised and it involves compassion. You can care for people and still have appropriate treatment, but it’s the caring about that people value and remember.”
Julie hadn’t quite realised these two prongs were so key to radiotherapy until she undertook her doctorate research. But looking at the information and support needs for people with breast cancer as part of her Master’s research, she discovered that people take for granted that they’ll receive accurate treatment. Meanwhile, it’s the little things that create the whole package of feeling cared about – and that translates to students. In fact, despite her efforts to split up experiences of caring between the clinical and educational settings, Julie discovered one key fact – “everything was the same”.
The final theme Julie identified was centred on pedagogic practice and caring. While she hadn’t sought to find out whether caring can be taught, participants felt very strongly that it could be ‘honed’, building on attributes that brought them into radiotherapy as a career/profession. People come in with caring, to be radiographers and educators, and then nurture and hone those skills and attributes to improve their ability to care for and about patients.
Research with CoRIPS
“The [CoRIPS] scheme is such a brilliant idea,” Julie adds. “It’s wonderful to have that available, because the biggest issue with research is that you can have all these fantastic ideas, want to write up all these papers, but I just physically don’t have enough time to do these things.
“One of the really useful things is being able to use some of the funding to hire a research assistant who would be able to do some of the work that would help to keep the project going and not lose momentum, because we’re all struggling with time.”
Hiring someone to assist – such as a student from the university, Julie explains – also helps them to earn some money, learn research skills and enhance their CV and personal statement with all kinds of transferable skills. “It’s especially meaningful to me, Emma and Chandini,” she says. “We will make it happen in the necessary timescales, but it’s helpful to have that extra layer of funding and support.”
If possible, she adds, the project would go on to explore caring across the globe. As much as the NHS may be underfunded, she says, it is in a privileged position. If this research can get caring on the radar around the world, that would be “really exciting”. “My dream would be that it could play a little part in making everyone’s journey through their cancer treatment just a little bit better,” says Julie.
Emma shares Julie’s passion. She explains that person-centred care in radiography and radiotherapy is gaining momentum, particularly in the current NHS and healthcare environment: “Targets, resourcing problems and a workforce that is stretched and burnt out: how might person-centredness still be delivered despite the present climate?”
Emma’s own CoRIPS-funded project defined how person-centred care in diagnostic radiography might be practised. Her research was published in three peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and she received numerous invitations to speak at conferences both in the UK and internationally to disseminate the findings. “I am delighted to now be working with Julie and Chandini on this project, which will explore what person-centred care looks like in therapeutic radiography, and result in the development of a new MOOC for Therapeutic Radiographers,” she adds.
‘Caring has always been important to me’
When Julie first became interested in radiography, the profession didn’t have an associated degree. But, Julie says, caring has “always been important to me”. Her grandfather died of stomach cancer when she was just four years old. Even though she didn’t get a chance to know him as well as she would have liked, the experience sparked a lifelong desire to do something in caring.
After receiving a book about the many different jobs in healthcare as a Christmas present, Julie first stumbled across therapeutic radiography. Despite her school careers adviser not recognising the profession, she knew she had found the job for her.
Following completion of her A-levels, Julie went on to finish her diploma in radiography at the Royal Marsden School of Radiotherapy, qualifying in 1986. She moved from there to the Kent Oncology Centre, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Foundation Trust, where she began studying for her Master’s degree, which focused on patient relationships.
She was later promoted to superintendent in the Kent Oncology Centre, before she moved on to an educational position at Kingston University in 2009. “I worked for 23 years in the NHS, and now 15 years as an educator,” says Julie. “I love it. Of course, there are things that drive me up the wall, but I still love seeing the students achieve, especially those who have had their struggles on the way.
“We have students who have graduated and have invited us to their weddings! So it is about building that community, building those relationships. And I think the world could just do with a bit more of that – caring and kindness.”
More about the College of Radiographers Industry Partnership Scheme
The College of Radiographers Industry Partnership Scheme provides support and funding for research projects undertaken by radiographers at all stages of their career and is supported by the industry partners.
It also provides partners with access to the knowledge, experience and expertise within the SoR | CoR and throughout the membership of 33,000 radiographers and students, as well as collaborations with UK governments, regulatory bodies, healthcare employers, imaging and therapy managers and educators, other professional groups and international partners.
More information on the scheme, and how to apply for research or become an industry partner, can be found online here.
Image and video credit: Getty Images
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