One of the workpackages of this project, coordinated by researcher Carla Oliveira from i3S, is led by our researchers Marta Marques and Ana Rodrigues, co-PI and PI of the EpiDoc group at NMS Research, in a project to empower people with hereditary cancer.
This funding was awarded on August 5, 2022, in the European project competition Horizon Europe.
We spoke with Marta Marques to understand the importance of this funding for her group's research and health care for people suffering from hereditary cancer-related syndromes, the Rare Tumor Risk Syndromes (RTRS).
What is the main purpose of this project and why is it important?
The project PREVENTABLE, led by Carla Oliveira (i3s), aims to increase current knowledge about pathways of care for people with Rare Tumour Risk Syndromes (RTRS). Clinical knowledge on RTRS pathways of care, real-life clinical data from RTRS patients and experiences from professionals and patients, with health economic models and social sciences approaches to estimate the cost-benefit of risk-reduction interventions in RTRS and delineate guidelines for its communication among and within clinical teams and RTRS patients.
What questions will you pursue next, in the scope of this work?
The NMS Research team will lead a workpackage focusing on a behavioural analysis of the uptake of care pathways for RTRS. We will use a mixed-methods approach (international survey and focus groups), using behavioral science frameworks, to identify barriers and facilitators to the implementation of prevention-related care pathways for RTRS for clinical teams, patients, and social networks. Based on the results from this work we will develop guidelines for the recommendation and communication of prevention-related care pathways for RTRS, using a person-centred approach.
What does this award mean to you/research team?
This award will strength the behavioral science research line of the Epidoc group, NMS-Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC), as we will test and evaluate the application of behavioral science frameworks to improve clinical care in rare diseases.
What will this award change for your research? Does it open new doors/new possibilities?
This focus on health-related behavioral science will allow bringing more researchers with this advanced training and skill set to our team and increase our international competitiveness in acquiring transdisciplinary research funding