We are pleased to be able to share with you the video from the Gynae Narratives book launch event held at the Health Innovation Campus at Lancaster University on 14th September, 2022.

The video includes members of the team talking about their experience of being in the project and also discusses the impacts the narratives could have on shaping future care and practise.

We would like to thank everyone who came to the event and also thank the patients who shared their experiences as part of the project.

You can order a free copy of the book by following this link: https://tinyurl.com/GynaeNarratives

On Wednesday evening we were thrilled to be able to launch to main output from the Gynae Narratives project, We Need To Talk…About Radiotherapy for Gynaecological Cancer. Representatives from North West Cancer Research, local radiotherapy units and various cancer support charities as well as members of the public joined the event at Lancaster University to celebrate the completion of the project.

Attendees at the launch of the Gynae Narratives book held in Health Innovation One at Lancaster University

In the book, patient experiences of radiotherapy treatment for gynaecological cancer are brought together in the hope that the care for people with a gynae cancer will be as good as it possibly can be for every patient. It is an activist project to demand and promote change.

Conversations is the theme that frames the book and its key message. Each section is entitled Conversations about… because the experiences revealed that conversations can be difficult to initiate or are easily closed down, even though many issues could be resolved through careful conversations.

At the end of each (short) section, each led by a different member of the research team, there are ideas for Continuing Conversations about… for both patients and practitioners. For patients there is advice, alongside examples of how and what to ask prior to, during and after treatment, and encouragement to ask again if they do not get answers. For practitioners there are questions to encourage reflection, conversation, communication with patients and also to challenge current services. The aim is that questions can be used directly or as prompts, or as part of a support or reading group.

You can order a copy of the book, free of charge, from the Lancaster University Store: https://tinyurl.com/GynaeNarratives 

Members of the Research Team with Alastair Richards from North West Cancer Research (far left). Researchers pictured (from left to right) Daniel Hutton, Lisa Ashmore, Mette Kragh-Furbo, Lorraine Salisbury, Corinne Singleton and Hilary Stewart.

The Gynae Narratives team at Lancaster University would like to invite you to join them to celebrate the publication of their forthcoming book We need to talk …about radiotherapy for gynaecological cancer on September 14^th 6-7:30pm at Health Innovation One, Lancaster University.

About the event

There will be short talks and networking opportunities with North West Cancer Research and members of the research team from Lancaster and Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. Light refreshments will be provided.

Please register here to attend.

Details of how to find Lancaster University can be found here.

 About the book

In We Need To Talk…About Radiotherapy for Gynaecological Cancer, patient experiences of radiotherapy treatment for gynaecological cancer are brought together in the hope that the care for people with a gynae cancer will be as good as it possibly can be for every patient.

Conversations is the theme that frames the book and its key message. Each section is entitled Conversations about… because the experiences revealed that conversations can be difficult to initiate or are easily closed down, even though many issues could be resolved through careful conversations.

At the end of each (short) section, each led by a different member of the research team, there are ideas for Continuing Conversations about… for both patients and practitioners. For patients there is advice, alongside examples of how and what to ask prior to, during and after treatment, and encouragement to ask again if they do not get answers. For practitioners there are questions to encourage reflection, conversation, communication with patients and also to challenge current services. The aim is that questions can be used directly or as prompts, or as part of a support or reading group.

Details on how you can receive a free copy of the book will be posted on this site soon.

Dr Lisa Ashmore has been presenting some of the Gynae Narratives work at the UK Imaging and Oncology conference in Liverpool this week.

Whilst at the conference, Lisa was interviewed by the folks over at RadChat podcast about the project and the forthcoming publication We Need to Talk about Radiotherapy for Gynaecological Cancer. You can listen to the podcast episode here. It was a busy conference and an open top booth so it’s hard to hear Naman and Jo asking the questions but you can still hear Lisa talk about the work.

If you would like to keep up to date with the gynae narratives project or receive information about how to get a copy of the book when it is launched later this summer, please subscribe to the page using the subscribe box to the right of this post ⇒

In the previous blog post, we discussed the importance of developing our understandings of health through examining women’s social roles and lived experiences, and how this approach is founded on a strong history of activism and research in the Western world, particularly feminist activism with its history of sharing experiences and knowledges.

The blog post below, written by an anonymous guest blogger, provides a strong, personal account of how it is like to live with radiotherapy, long after the treatment has finished. Continue reading →