The diary of a research student - part 1

by Katharyn Hall

Have you ever wondered what is involved in a research project?

You can find out by reading my regular online diary. I am a postgraduate student based at the University of Sheffield, and I will be working closely with Epilepsy Action throughout my project.

Part one

This partnership began in October 2005, when I was planning my research. I am looking at how people manage and adapt to day-to-day living with epilepsy, how people perceive and cope with any memory problems they may experience and also how epilepsy affects others, including family, friends and partners. I feel this research is important and I hope that eventually my research will be used to help people cope and adapt more easily to living with epilepsy.

Most of my time so far has been spent applying for ethical consent from the NHS to allow me to carry out my research in their hospitals. As well as working with Epilepsy Action, I am working with consultants based in epilepsy clinics at Sheffield, Chesterfield, Doncaster and Barnsley hospitals.

In January, my local ethics committee reviewed my application. I was quizzed by a panel of medical professionals, which was quite scary, but once I got started I found it easy to talk about my project. I then had a letter confirming approval of my proposal – the fact that my review was at the end of January shows how long it takes to get a research project off the ground! I’m really excited to be able to begin my research and to start collecting data.

I have also visited Epilepsy Action headquarters and completed a day of epilepsy awareness training. This gave me a chance to meet people with personal experiences of epilepsy, bringing a human element to my daily reading – there’s only so much you can learn about how epilepsy affects people from magazine articles. I also met the chief executive of Epilepsy Action and the editor of Epilepsy Today to discuss the idea of writing an article for the magazine. This is an exciting opportunity to communicate what existing research has shown about how people cope with epilepsy to the most important audience – people living with epilepsy.