Honorary Visiting Fellow
Email: M.Farquhar@uea.ac.uk
Background
Morag has worked in health services research for over 25 years, predominantly in the field of palliative and supportive care. A graduate nurse by background (King’s College London), she holds a Masters in Medical Sociology (Royal Holloway & Bedford New College) and PhD (QMUL) on the definition and measurement of quality of life in older people. She has worked for health authorities in London, and within the universities of London, Manchester and Cambridge on series of research projects including service evaluations (e.g. practice nurses, paediatric A&E, midwifery teams and breathlessness interventions), studies of patient and carer experiences (e.g. in old age, advanced cancer and non-malignant diseases, and breathlessness in advanced disease) and the development of interventions (e.g. in advanced cancer and non-malignant diseases, and breathlessness in advanced disease).
Morag’s substantive post is at University of East Anglia (UEA) where she holds a Senior Lectureship.
Research Interests
Morag’s research interests include supportive and palliative care (particularly in non-malignant disease), breathlessness in advanced disease, informal carers, quality of life, older people, service evaluation, and methodology – particularly the development and testing of interventions (including randomised controlled trials in palliative care settings) and the use of mixed methods (integrating applied qualitative and quantitative methods where relevant to answer research questions).
Current main projects:
(1) Leading a programme of research on improving care and support in advanced lung disease (in collaboration with colleagues here at University of Cambridge as well as at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, University of Manchester, King’s College London, and RAND Europe) including:
(a) Randomised controlled trial of a Breathlessness Intervention Service (BIS Phase III RCT)
(b) Living with Breathlessness study (LwB: longitudinal mixed-method multiple-perspective cohort study of trajectories of need and support in advanced COPD)
(c) Learning about Breathlessness study (LaB: qualitative study to develop an educational intervention on breathlessness for carers)
(d) Support Needs Approach for Patients (SNAP): developing and evaluating an approach to enable delivery of person-centred care in advanced COPD
(2) Collaborating on a study lead by Dr Gail Ewing (Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge) to develop and intervention to support patients and their families to share the news of a cancer diagnosis (Sharing Bad News study);
(3) Collaborating with Dr Jane Fleming and colleagues at University of Cambridge on a study of ‘Living and Dying in Extreme Old Age’
(4) Collaborating on a study led by Dr Elizabeth Renzoni at Imperial College London on the effects of ambulatory oxygen on breathlessness, quality of life and mobility in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Teaching
Morag has a teaching role at UEA (undergraduate and postgraduate), has taught research methods at both undergraduate (University of Manchester) and postgraduate levels (University of Cambridge), and postgraduate supervision experience at both Masters (as sole supervisor) and PhD level (co-supervision). She has hosted medical students for Student Selected Component projects. In addition, Morag is an external examiner for King’s College London MSc Palliative Care.
Selected Publications
Rocker G, Farquhar M, Verma J. New models of care for respiratory disease: a thematic edition (editorial). Chronic Respiratory Disease 2017 (in press)
Ewing G, Penfold C, Benson J, Mahadeva R, Howson S, Burkin J, Booth S, Lovick R, Gilligan D, Todd C, Farquhar M. Clinicians’ views of educational interventions for carers of patients with breathlessness due to advanced disease: findings from an online survey. Journal of Pain & Symptom Management 2017;55(2):265-271.
Farquhar M, Prevost AT, McCrone P, Brafman-Price B, Bentley A, Higginson IJ, Todd C, Booth S. The clinical and cost-effectiveness of a Breathlessness Intervention Service for patients with advanced non-malignant disease and their informal carers – mixed findings of a mixed method randomised controlled trial. BMC Trials 2016;17:185.
Fleming J & Farquhar M [joint first authors], CC75C study collaboration, Brayne C, Barclay S. Death and the Oldest Old: Attitudes and Preferences for End-of-Life Care – Qualitative Research within a Population-Based Cohort Study. PLoS ONE 2016;11(4):e0150686.
Featured on BuzzFeed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomchivers/the-only-thing-im-worried-about-is-my-sister
Farquhar M, Penfold C, Walter F, Kuhn I, Benson J. What are the key elements of educational interventions for lay carers of patients with advanced disease? A systematic literature search and narrative review of structural components, processes and modes of delivery. Journal of Pain & Symptom Management 2016 [in press]
Chowienczyk S, Javadzadeh S, Booth S, Farquhar M. Association of descriptors of breathlessness with diagnosis, self-reported severity of breathlessness and self-reported distress due to breathlessness in patients with advanced cancer or advanced COPD. Journal of Pain & Symptom Management 2016 [in press]
Johnson MJ, Close L, Gillon SC, Molassiotis A, Lee PH, Farquhar MC. Use of the modified Borg scale and Numerical Rating Scale to measure chronic breathlessness: a pooled data analysis. European Respiratory Journal 2016 Mar 17. pii: ERJ-02089-2015. doi: 10.1183/13993003.02089-2015. [Epub ahead of print]
Preston NJ, Farquhar MC, Walshe CE, Stevinson C, Ewing G, Calman LA, Burden S, Brown Wilson C, Hopkinson JB, Todd C. Strategies designed to help healthcare professionals to recruit participants to research studies. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2016, Issue 2. Art. No.: MR000036. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.MR000036.pub2.
Currow DC, Abernethy AP, Allcroft P, Banzett RB, Bausewein C, Booth S, Carrieri-Kohlman V, Davidson P, Disler R, Donesky D, Dudgeon D, Ekstrom M, Farquhar M, Higginson I, Janssen D, Jensen D, Jolley C, Krajnik M, Laveneziana P, McDonald C, Maddocks M, Morelot-Panzini C, Moxham J, Mularski RA, Noble S, O’Donnell D, Parshall MB, Pattinson K, Phillips J, Ross J, Schwartzstein RM, Similowski T, Simon ST, Smith T, Wells A, Yates P, Yorke J, Johnson MJ. The need to research refractory breathlessness. European Respiratory Journal 2016 Jan;47(1):342-3.
Javadzadeh S, Chowienczyk S, Booth S, Farquhar MC. Comparison of respiratory health-related quality of life in patients with intractable breathlessness due to advanced cancer or advanced COPD. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care 2016;6:105-8.
Ewing G, Ngwenya N, Benson J, Giiligan D, Bailey S, Seymour J, Farquhar M. Sharing news of a lung cancer diagnosis with adult family members and friends: a qualitative study to inform a supportive intervention in cancer care. Patient Education and Counseling 2016 Mar;99(3):378-85.
Chin C, Butcher HH, Spathis A, Ryan R, Johnson M, Pattinson K, Currow D, Banzett R, Yorke J, Clayson H, Macnaughton J, Penfold C, Farquhar M, Booth S. What’s trending in breathlessness research? Proceedings of the 8th Annual Meeting of the Breathlessness Research Interest Group. Progress in Palliative Care 2015;23(6):326-30.
Ngwenya N, Farquhar M, Ewing G. Sharing bad news of a lung cancer diagnosis: Understanding through Communication Privacy Management Theory. Psycho-Oncology 2015 Nov 25. doi: 10.1002/pon.4024. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 26602492