Fiona Menger

Newcastle University | NCL · School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences

Background People with lower-grade gliomas (LGG) often require long-term support with a condition that causes substantial symptom burden and is likely to progress. Partners, family, and friends often become informal caregivers (IC), but the types of support they provide, and their experiences of this, has not been well investigated. We aimed to und...

Background Supported self‐management can improve clinical and psychosocial outcomes in people with cancer; the considerations required to implement self‐management support (SMS) for people living with a lower‐grade glioma (LGG)—who often have complex support needs—are not known. We aimed to identify and understand these implementation consideration...

Purpose Self-management can have clinical and quality-of-life benefits. However, people with lower-grade gliomas (LGG) may face chronic tumour- and/or treatment-related symptoms and impairments (e.g. cognitive deficits, seizures), which could influence their ability to self-manage. Our study aimed to identify and understand the barriers and facilit...

Background Quantitative studies show people living with a lower-grade glioma (LGG) often report low health-related quality-of-life. However, it is unclear how this impact is experienced; resulting supportive care needs are also poorly understood. We explored how people experience the impact of living long-term with an LGG, to help identify potentia...

Purpose Lower-grade gliomas (LGG) are mostly diagnosed in working-aged adults and rarely cured. LGG patients may face chronic impairments (e.g. fatigue, cognitive deficits). Self-management can improve clinical and psychosocial outcomes, yet how LGG patients self-manage the consequences of their tumour and its treatment is not fully understood. Thi...

Brain tumours and their associated treatments can lead to progressive impairments of communication, adversely affecting quality-of-life. This commentary explores our concerns that people with speech, language, and communication needs face barriers to representation and inclusion in brain tumour research; we then offer possible solutions to support...

Introduction Head and neck cancer (HNC) diagnosis and treatment can be a significant life trauma. Some HNC survivors experience post-traumatic growth (PTG), which has been linked with better health-related quality-of-life. Empirical research on PTG, and theoretical models, point to the importance of being able to purposely make sense of the traumat...

Purpose Low-grade glioma (LGG) patients may face health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) impairments, due to the tumour, treatment and associated side-effects and prospects of progression. We systematically identified quantitative studies assessing HRQoL in adult LGG patients, for: aspects of HRQoL impacted; comparisons with non-cancer controls (NCC...

Purpose Interest is growing in post-traumatic growth (PTG) after cancer prompted, in part, by observations of positive associations with health-related quality of life. Qualitative research provides valuable insight into survivors’ experiences. We conducted a scoping review of qualitative evidence on PTG in cancer, determining the number, nature, r...

Purpose: This study compared Internet use post-stroke in people with aphasia (n = 25) and without aphasia (n = 17). The purpose was to understand how people with aphasia were using the Internet and to investigate the impact of aphasia on their use. Materials and methods: A face-to-face supported questionnaire explored the use of technologies, types...

Purpose This article uses an illustrative case example to discuss a means of producing a holistic profile of Internet use for individuals with aphasia. Methods The authors used the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health as a framework to select novel and existing assessments to explore the Internet use and skills of a...

Conference Poster presented at the Society for Research in Rehabilitation Summer Meeting. 9 June 2015. St James' Park, Newcastle, UK.

Background: For some people with aphasia, returning to work will be their eventual goal. While there are reports in the literature of incidence of return to work, and general discussion of success, there are few documented in depth studies of what this might entail for the individual with aphasia.Aims: This paper explores returning to work with aph...