Edinburgh Napier University

  Older people with cancer often face the prospect of cognitive and physical frailty, increased vulnerability of
psychological distress and limited access to resources. These factors present ethical and methodological
challenges for conducting research in such patients, especially interviews in acute care settings. This paper
discusses these challenges using experiences from an ongoing research project. The project is a patient-focused
study on the perceptions of older people with cancer regarding information provided to them, decision making
and treatment. Interviews with patients aged 65 or over with a cancer diagnosis are conducted in two clinical
settings, care of the elderly wards and a cancer centre whilst they are in-patients. Patients’ cognitive and
physical status are assessed using clinical measures, whereas socio-demographic and medical data are obtained
from patient files. Ethical challenges, including procedures to obtain valid consent, as well as methodological
choices, including recruitment procedures and patient conditions are presented and debated with reference to
previous literature. Suggestions for future research with older people with cancer are made based both on
current experience and previous literature.