I started my PhD in Primary Care at UCL, Dept. Primary Care & Population Sciences (PCPS), in April 2005.  This is a part-time PhD as I also have a full-time clinical and management role as a Nurse Practitioner/Nurse Lead/Management Team member back in  a general practice in Norfolk.  My PhD research topic is the fears and concerns patients have when the time comes to stop their antidepressant medication.  This research topic evolved from findings generated by my MSc Primary Care dissertation, also undertaken at UCL; the innovative web-based distance learning MSc organised by Trish Greenhalgh and her colleagues at PCPS, UCL. 

By the time I came to register and start my PhD I was fortunate to have not only identified my research topic but also to have written the research protocol; this was because I had put in a submission for one of the Health Foundation 'Leading Practice Through Research' (LPTR) Awards in January 2005.  This was a rigorous peer reviewed process, but in June 2005 I was informed that I was one of nine successful Award winners, all that effort had been worthwhile!.  The LPTR Award provides me with significant research funding for 2 years; the aim of the LPTR Awards is to develop the leaders of the future.  The Award explicitly does not fund PhDs, but clearly some of the costs involved in the PhD over the next 2 years will fall within the remit of this Award.

The LPTR Award was confirmed June 2005, it was time then to get the COREC and research governance applications sorted.  They were submitted in August and approval granted at the beginning of November 2005, all in all not too bad!!  The weekend that followed was hectic; 572 questionnaires, patient information sheets, consent forms, decline forms and SAEs were printed, collated, enveloped and stamped - this was a team effort  - the family had little choice as until all was done they couldn't eat as the breakfast room table was covered in paper!  The poor printer suffered too - it was making a very strange noise by the end of Sunday, fortunately a rest and period of light work has seen a full recovery!

So, 572 questionnaires were duly posted to all patients in the practice who were prescribed either an SSRI or TCA antidepressant.  Kleinman's Explanatory Model Theory is my theoretical framework, the objectives being to identify patients' models of illness and recovery in order to understand their fears and concerns about stopping antidepressants within the context of their illness.  I am using N6 (formerly called NUD*IST) to analyse the 201 returned questionnaires.  The analysis will help identify the interview sample for the next stage of this study, the purposive sample of 30 in-depth interviews aims to explore the research topic in-depth. 

Where am I at now?  I think I have finally got to grips with N6 (never having used a CAQDAS package before) and am busy coding my questionnaire data.  I am applying various coding approaches: the data from the questionnaires is being coded demographically; by question number; by Kleinman's 'Five Parts of an Illness Experience'; and also by themes that I am able to pull out from the data.  I have a deadline, always guaranteed to clear the head and focus the mind!  Tuesday I meet with my supervisors...........the weekend is going to be busy!