REVEALED: Why a national cancer study is focusing on these two Tipperary towns

A national initiative aimed at understanding how people living with and after cancer engage with community support services has quietly taken root in North Tipperary and for good reason.

Researchers from the School of Psychology at University College Dublin are conducting an on-the-ground study supported by The National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) to explore why cancer survivors access or don’t access the community-based supports available to them. While the programme has a national remit, the decision was made to focus in on a handful of areas to carry out in-depth, local engagement.

That decision brought one of the project leads, Niall Kennedy, a postgraduate psychology student in the School of Psychology at UCD, to Nenagh and Thurles, driven not just by research priorities, but by personal knowledge of the area. A Westmeath native, Niall began the work close to home in Westmeath but North Tipperary was the natural next step as his wife is from Dromineer and has strong family connections in the Nenagh area, while his father’s side hails from South Tipperary, in Clonmel. This meant that Niall could gather much needed information about the area.

With existing cancer support centres in Nenagh and Thurles, both part of the North Tipperary Hospice and NCCP Alliance, this region is an ideal focus point for learning more about survivor experience on a local level.

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“Having ties to the County, through my own and my wife's family, I am keen to learn as much as I can so that the Alliance members, with the help of the NCCP, can do whatever they can to support anyone that feels they might need help following a cancer diagnosis.” said Niall.

The study is specifically targeting adults aged 18 and over who have received a cancer diagnosis, whether recently or in the past. The goal is to capture anonymous, honest feedback through a voluntary online questionnaire. The data gathered will then be used to shape a national report for the NCCP, aimed at improving how services are designed, promoted, and delivered in the future.

The survey is open now and can be completed in a matter of minutes. While the responses remain entirely anonymous, their impact could help shape the future of survivorship care, not just in Tipperary, but nationwide. Here is a link to the questionnaire: https://tinyurl.com/UCDCommunityCancerStudy.