Identifying disease distress in patients with chronic venous leg ulcers

Overview

Venous leg ulcers (VLUs) make up 70% of all chronic leg ulcers. Unfortunately, around 30% of VLUs fail to heal in a 24-week period often despite evidence-based practice. Chronic VLUs impose a significant burden on people with these ulcers. Disease related distress has been explored in diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease but has not been explored in chronic wounds.

Research has completed phase one of this study (secondary analysis of existing data), phase two (focus group to explore the findings), phase three (Delphi Survey of Health Professionals) and phase four (cognitive interviews).

The aim of this study will be to finalise the development of a distress scale for chronic venous leg ulcers based on the results of the first four phases of survey development.

Research activities

You will complete:

• Analysis using scale validation methods to undertake psychometric validation of the draft VLU via test-retest, and statistical analysis to determine the possibility of further item reduction
• Phase, test-retest and psychometric validation of the reduced final VLU distress scale with newly-recruited participants.

Outcomes

Project outcomes will provide much needed information to guide clinical care and research for people with VLUs in regard to distress.

Skills and experience

A background in health or related disciplines is highly regarded.

Keywords

• chronic venous leg ulcers
• distress
• quality of life

Contact

Contact Associate Professor Christina Parker for more information.