BCNA is committed to the production of good quality research which reflects the issues that are important to women with breast cancer.
We work closely with researchers, clinicians, health professionals and others throughout Australia who are conducting high quality research aimed at improving the outcomes of women affected by breast cancer.
If you are undertaking breast cancer research, BCNA offers the following programs which may assist you when applying for grant applications, undertaking funded research projects or in other aspects of your work.
Seat at the Table Consumer Representative program
BCNA’s Consumer Representative program, Seat at the Table, provides trained Consumer Representatives who work with researchers, committees and decision making bodies throughout Australia to represent the experience and views of all Australians affected by breast cancer.
Consumer Representatives complete our three-day science and advocacy training program, and are available right across the country.
Our Consumer Representatives can assist you in many ways, including:
- providing advice and feedback on funding applications
- advising on project methodologies
- assisting with the development of patient information and consent documents
- assisting with clinical trial recruitment
- disseminating research findings
Our BCNA Consumer Representative, Margaret, is great. Her scientific background is useful, but even more importantly she is a thoughtful, sensible and responsive Consumer Representative, easy to communicate with and forgiving of the sort of time pressures we researchers put her under. – Researcher
To request a BCNA Consumer Representative for your project, please download and complete the Consumer Representative Request Form, and email it to satt@bcna.org.au.
Review & Survey Group
BCNA's Review & Survey Group allows researchers to access over 2,500 BCNA members who have volunteered to participate in research projects, focus groups and online surveys.
The group comprises women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer (early and secondary), from all states and territories of Australia. Most researchers using Review & Survey Group find they are able to recruit participants quickly and easily.
Since BCNA sent the email about my study to Review & Survey Group members, we have received a whopping 434 responses in less than a week. That is simply amazing! What a fabulous and kind group of people to share their stories with us. – Researcher, The University of Adelaide
Involving women in your research?
If you're a researcher and interested in involving women diagnosed with breast cancer in your research, please complete the Review & Survey Group Information and Request form.
BCNA assesses all applications to ensure the research is high quality, relevant to women, and has tangible outcomes for women affected by breast cancer. Once we have reviewed your application, we will advise you of the outcome. If your application has been approved, we will contact women in Review & Survey Group by email on your behalf, inviting them to participate in your research.
Most researchers using our group find that they are able to recruit participants quickly and easily.
When considering whether your research proposal is suitable to send to our Review & Survey Group, there are a number of key criteria that BCNA will take into account.
- Have you received ethics approval for this research?
- Do you have funding or adequate resourcing to undertake this project?
- Has there been consumer input into the development of the research project?
- Is the research focused on an issue that is important to women with breast cancer?
Applications
To submit your research for consideration, please download and complete the Review & Survey Group Information and Request form and email it to policy@bcna.org.au. We will assess your request and advise you of an outcome shortly.
What we ask of researchers using Review & Survey Group
For any publication or report about research where Review & Survey Group members have been used, we require that BCNA be listed as an author.
We also require that a specific acknowledgment be included recognising the women involved in Review & Survey Group who participated in your project.
To help the women receive information about research they participate in, we also ask that you provide us with a short layperson summary of your findings. We will provide this summary to the women in the Group that we have contacted on your behalf. We ask them not to share this information as it may impact the researcher’s ability to publish their findings.
More information about these and other requirements relating to the use of the Review & Survey Group are included in the Review & Survey Group Information and Request form.
Please do not hesitate to contact the Policy Team on policy@bcna.org.au or 1800 500 258 with any concerns or queries about Review & Survey Group.