Irish Psychosocial Oncology Network’s 2024 Conference
Enhancing Psychosocial Cancer Care & Survivorship in Ireland: We Are All in it Together
13th March 2024 at the Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, St James's Hospital in Dublin
Kindly supported by National College of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, and the National Cancer Control Programme.
Endorsed by the International Psycho-Oncology Society.
From 8:30 Registration
9:30-9:45 Welcome
Amanda Kracen, IPSON President, National College of Ireland
Wendy WT Lam, IPOS President, The University of Hong Kong
9:45-10:15 The Future of Psychosocial Oncology in Ireland
Helen Greally, National Clinical Programme Lead in Psycho-Oncology, NCCP, & Director of Support Services, Cancer Care West
Louise Mullen, National Lead for Cancer Survivorship, NCCP
10:15-10:45 What Did We Learn from Members: Findings from IPSON’s 2023 Survey
Naomi Algeo, Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist (Cancer Services), St James Hospital & Adjunct Assistant Professor, TCD
Chiara Besani, Principal Clinical Psychologist, Children’s Health Ireland Crumlin
Emer Guinan, Associate Professor, Cancer Rehabilitation and Survivorship, TCD
Amanda Kracen, Associate Professor, Psychology, National College of Ireland
Mairead O’Connor, Research Officer, National Screening Service
10:45-11 Break
11-12 Working in Partnership to Enhance Psychosocial Care and Survivorship
KEYNOTE: Claire Foster, Professor of Psychosocial Oncology, University of Southampton
12-1:15 Delivering Psychosocial Support: A Clinical Case Study Highlighting Multidisciplinary Teams Working Together
Elaine Corcoran, Senior Oncology Nurse, Cancer Care West Support Centre
Louise Finn, Senior Social Worker-Psycho-Oncology, Cork University Hospital
Fahmi Ismail, Consultant Psychiatrist in Psycho-Oncology, Cork University Hospital
Jennifer Kilkus, Principal Clinical Psychologist, Psycho-Oncology, University Hospital Waterford
Deirdre Leavy, Senior Speech and Language Therapist, Head and Neck Oncology, St James Hospital
Moderated by Nicola Elmer, Principal Psychologist, St Luke’s Radiation Oncology Network
1:15-2:15 Lunch/Facilitated poster walk
2:15-3:45 What You Told Us You Wanted to Learn: 15 Minutes with an Expert
1. Working with Fear of Recurrence
Sonya Collier, Principal Clinical Psychologist, St James Hospital
Catherine O’Brien, Advanced Nurse Practitioner Cancer Survivorship, St James Hospital
2. Community Cancer Support Centres Engaging with Cancer Research
John Conroy, Service Manager, Dóchas Offaly Cancer Support Group
3. Working with Children and Families
Edel Lawlor, Child and Adolescence Psychotherapist, Expressive Play
4. Working with Grief
David Shannon, Senior Chartered Counselling Psychologist, St Luke’s Hospital
3:45-4 Conference Closure: We Are All in it Together, So Where to Next?
Professor Claire Foster graduated in Psychology from University of Warwick in 1992 and University of Exeter in 1998 with a PhD in Health Psychology. She worked at the Institute of Cancer Research for 7 years on the first UK cohort study to assess psychosocial impact of predictive genetic testing for BRCA1/2. She joined the University of Southampton in 2004 where she led a programme of research funded by Macmillan Cancer Support (Macmillan Research Unit, later Macmillan Survivorship Research Group). She is Professor of Psychosocial Oncology in the School of Health Sciences and Deputy Head of School (Research and Enterprise). She is Co-Director of the Centre for Psychosocial Research in Cancer: CentRIC. Her research focuses on advancing understanding of the impact of cancer on people’s lives and developing and testing solutions to manage this impact. Her research includes UK wide prospective cohort studies (CREW, HORIZONS, UK co-lead for Movember TrueNTH Global Registry) to understand the consequences of cancer over time, how this can affect people’s daily lives, and identifying areas for intervention. Her team is developing complex interventions, including web-based resources, to enhance confidence to self-manage cancer related problems such as fatigue and mental health and working closely with NHS Partners to inform health care transformation to improve psychosocial outcomes; and developing web-based decision aids to support people facing decisions about genetic testing for cancer susceptibility and associated risk management (CanGene CanVar CRUK Catalyst programme 2019-2025). Claire works in partnership with patients, caregivers, health professionals, academics, policy makers and third sector organisations to design and deliver research, evaluations, health services and resources that inform the psychosocial care and support of those affected by cancer.
