MSc Advanced Leadership for Professional Practice (Social Work)

You may undertake this unit as part of your degree pathway, or as a ‘stand-alone’ CPD unit.

The breast care units are facilitated online via close collaboration between the University of Manchester and dedicated Breast Care Teams from both The Christie and Nightingale Centre, as well as breast care specialists and charities from across the region. This team approach aims to integrate theory into practice and is seen as an essential component of the course.

We very much hope that you will enjoy the varied learning experiences, which the unit has to offer.

As breast cancer affects 1 in 7 women in the United Kingdom (CRC, 2023) the unit is seen as an important component of the cancer pathway. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with approximately 56,400 women and 390 men being diagnosed every year in the UK. This equates to around 150 people a day. Indeed, 15 out of 100 (15%) of all newly diagnosed cancers in the UK are breast cancer (CRC, 2023). WHO (2023) estimates that in 2020, there were 2.3 million women diagnosed with breast cancer and 685 000 deaths globally. As of the end of 2020, there were 7.8 million women alive who were diagnosed with breast cancer in the past 5 years, making it the world’s most prevalent cancer. Breast cancer occurs in every country of the world in women at any age after puberty but with increasing rates in later life.

It is widely recognized that breast disease often evokes feelings of fear and dread, giving rise to a range of psychological and psychosocial problems. There is a growing recognition that this cohort of individuals need support in adjusting to their diagnosis, accepting subsequent treatments and navigating transitions in the cancer journey.

It is acknowledged that breast cancer nurses with appropriate training and expertise should be integral members of all MDT’s. During the course, you will be given the opportunity to develop, extend and integrate your existing knowledge and skills in relation to the delivery of care to this client group, across the age continuum.

The unit will enable you to explore a range of issues affecting the organization and delivery of person-centred breast care across institutional and community settings, enhancing your knowledge and skills in relation to the facilitation of the therapeutic frame within nursing care, multidisciplinary team working, holistic symptom management and effective communication with individuals and families living with a breast cancer diagnosis.

Current treatment options and research will be discussed alongside broader concepts such as assessment, personalised care, quality of life issues and supportive care.

To enable nurses working with individuals who have breast cancer:

• To develop and extend their knowledge and skills in both the theory and practice of breast cancer care
• To improve interpersonal skills in order to detect psychological sequelae of breast disease
• To increase skills of reflection, analysis and critical enquiry into current issues relating to breast cancer care, including the evaluation of current research, policy guidance and protocols in order to promote optimal breast cancer care
• To recommend changes to enhance multi-disciplinary team working (MDT) and improve wider service provision for individuals living with breast cancer
   

This unit is delivered online and involves lectures, group discussion, problem-based learning, individual tutorials, directed and self-directed study.

All core content will be recorded by clinical colleagues prior to each study day and uploaded to BlackBoard (Bb), so that students can access presentations at a time that suits them best, and revisit materials retrospectively, as needed. 

As Unit Lead, I will facilitate optional discussion sessions via Teams each week on the study day to recap learning and afford space for ‘live’ discussion: 2-3pm.These are entirely optional and with the group's permission we will record them so that colleagues who cannot attend in person also have access.  I have allowed extra time within each Teams meeting to address individual queries as needed and also to revisit core study skills 3-4pm, with individual Tutorials available 4-5pm. I appreciate that many of you will need to balance your studies with your clinical and family roles and hope that this blended approach will help you to work flexibly.

• Critically evaluate how and why a diagnosis of breast cancer may cause significant challenges for individuals and their families.
• Demonstrate an in-depth, critical understanding of the common problems associated with breast cancer and the complexities surrounding treatment.
• Critically appraise a range of evidence-based strategies and interventions to provide high quality care and explore the evidence relating to management options.
• Critically appraise different models of care delivery that can be used to support individuals with breast cancer and their family.

• Critically analyse and reflect upon the psychosocial consequences that can arise following a breast cancer diagnosis.
• Critically examine the ethical, legal, political and professional issues relating to the management of individuals with breast disease.
• Critically appraise the concepts of rehabilitation, support and palliation and consider their relevance in the context of breast disease and advanced breast care practice.
• Critically analyse different models for assessing patient concerns and
  evaluate their utility within the context of a breast care setting.

• Critically reflect upon your own level of interpersonal competence and identify key areas for further personal development.
• Develop interpersonal skills to enable the assessment, identification and exploration of key patient concerns in the context of a breast cancer diagnosis.
• Critically consider the value and purpose of the therapeutic relationship and evaluate strategies for the development of therapeutic patient relationships in the context of their professional role.
• Critically reflect on your professional role and sphere of influence to identify and critically evaluate appropriate strategies to promote developing practice in breast cancer care.
   

• Critically reflect on their own academic performance and utilise a range of strategies to improve these and overcome any particular difficulties.
• Further develop and enhance skills in effective communication to a range of audiences in a variety of settings. 
• Demonstrate skills in working collegiately and effectively with others as a member of a team.
• Effectively utilise a range of information sources including information technology and health informatics. 
• Utilise systematic and creative approaches to problem-solving and decision-making in relation to complex issues.
   

Formative presentation and draft work feeding into summative case-study of 3,500 words

Students will normally have the opportunity to receive feedback on formative work submitted prior to the summative assessment. Other feedback opportunities will also be available in class and online discussion boards. Online feedback is provided in Grademark. Provisional feedback based on internal marking will be made available prior to the Exam Board on the basis that these marks are yet to be ratified at the Exam Board and therefore may be subject to change. A standard feedback mechanism in Grademark is utilised across all postgraduate programmes within the School which provides detailed and constructive feedback on each component and aspect of assessment and identifies areas of strength and those aspects which could be enhanced.

Student feedback is obtained through open discussion forums on blackboard, in class discussions, via formal University unit evaluation forms and also qualitative, in house evaluations at the end of the unit.