New Research Assistant

I am the newest addition to the IMPROVE research team based at KCL. Although, I had a chance to get to know my colleagues last year when I was working on my master’s dissertation in health psychology at King’s College London as I completed some feedback interviews with PR-staff in some of the trial pilot sites.

I started working as a research assistant for the IMPROVE trial earlier in April and have found there’s a lot to learn about this interesting trial. My work is going to involve supporting a variety of research activities including visiting trial sites and assisting with research interviews and focus groups. I am looking forward to contributing to our understanding of how the trial is going from the perspective of the PR staff, PR-buddies and patients who receive PR-buddy support.

I will also be involved in the analysis of the recordings the PR-buddies are making of the interactions with the patients that they are supporting. These recordings will help us to understand more about the usefulness of PR-buddies in supporting uptake and completion of Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR).

Last week, I went to one of the PR-sites that has been setting up a PR-buddy service. I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the PR-buddies and seeing their enthusiasm to support other patients to benefit from PR like they have. I look forward to more of such interactions and contributing to the success of the trial.