Shweta Chawak
PhD [Health and Medical Psychology], IIT Hyderabad
2 years (post PhD)
Psycho-oncology, Health Communication, Diabetes Management, Women’s Health
Journal papers
1. Chawak, S., Chittem, M., Dhillon, H., Huligol, N., & Butow, P. (2024). Development of a question prompt list for Indian cancer patients receiving radiation therapy treatment and their primary family caregivers. Psycho-oncology, 33(1), e6295. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.6295
2. Lathia, T., Chittem, M., Chawak, S., Katdare, P., Jayaram, S., & Selvan, C. (2023). Experiences and expectations of physician communication: A focus group discussion with Indian patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Chronic illness, 17423953231200683. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/17423953231200683
3. Chawak, S., Siddiqui, H., Pongener, M., & Chittem, M. (2023). Talking about death and dying: A delicate balance between the physician, patient, and their family caregivers. Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment, 6(1), 134-135.
4. Chawak., S., Chittem., M., S., Dhillon, H., Huligol, N. & Butow, P. (2022) Treatment-related communication experiences and expectations among Indian cancer patients receiving radiation therapy and their family members: A qualitative study. Patient Education and Counseling. 105(9): 2913-2922
5. Lathia, T., Selvan, C., Namjoshi, S., Chawak, S., Kelada, L., & Chittem, M. (2022). Indian physicians’ attitudes and practice regarding menopause and its management: a focus group discussion. Menopause. 29(11): 1323-1328.
6. George, P.N., Ganesh, M.P., Chawak, S., & Chittem, M. (2022). Factors associated with choosing the Kerala Model of Palliative Care versus standard care among Indian cancer patients. Indian Journal of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. https://doi.org/ 10.1055/s-0042-1742613
7. Selvan, C., Lathia, T., Chawak, S., Katdare, P., Nayak, R., & Chittem, M. (2022). The weight of words: Indian physicians’ perspectives on patient communication to promote diabetes adherence. Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism. 25:395- 401.
8. Maya, S., Banerjee, S. C., Chawak, S., Parker, A. P., Kandikattu, S., Chittem, M. (2021) Oncologists' experience with discussing cancer prognosis with patients and families: perspectives from India. Translational Behavioural Medicine. 11: 1896-1904.
9. Chawak, S., Chittem, M., Maya, S., Dhillon, H., & Butow, P. (2020) The Question-prompt list (QPL): A case for it in the Indian oncology setting. Cancer Reports, 4(2), e1316.
10. Chawak, S., Chittem, M., Aswini, S., Varghese, D., & Epton, T. (2020). Predictors of health behaviours among Indian college students: An exploratory study. Health Education 120(2):179-195.
11. Chawak, S., Chittem, M., Butow, P., & Huilgol, N. (2020) Indian cancer patients' needs, perceptions of and expectations from their support network: A qualitative study. Journal of Cancer Education 35; 462–469.
12. Chittem, M., Maya, S., Chawak, S. (2020) Nondisclosure of a Cancer Diagnosis and Prognosis: Recommendations for Future Research and Practice. Indian Journal of Cancer, 58 (2), 158-164.
13. Chittem, M., Chawak, S., Sridharan, S.G., & Sahay, R. (2018) The relationship between diabetes-related emotional distress and illness perceptions among Indian patients with Type II diabetes. Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews 13(2): 965-967.
Book Chapters
1. Chittem, M., Pongener, M., Maya, S., & Chawak, S. (2023). An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: The Unmet Information and Supportive Care Needs of Cancer Patients. In M. Hariharan, M. Padhy & U. Chivukula (Eds), Health Psychology. Routledge
2. Chawak, S. & Chittem, M. (2021) Are you satisfied with your care? A study examining the relationship between psychological factors and satisfaction with the medical consultation among Indian cancer patients. In R. Pradhan & U. Kumar (Eds), International Handbook of Advances in Emotion, Wellbeing, and Resilience: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Applications (pp. 129- 143). Apple Academic Press: New Jersey, USA.
Symposium
1. 2022: National Conference on Innovations in Health Interventions: Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Methods (TCAM) in Holistic Health Care [virtual conference] presented a paper on ‘Holistic health care interventions: Divergent perspectives’
2. 2021: International Psycho-Oncology Society World Congress of Psycho-Oncology (IPOS) [virtual conference] presented a paper on ‘Understanding and implementing interventions for unmet needs of Indian cancer patients their family caregivers and Oncologists’
Papers presented
1. 2022: Research Accelerating Psychosocial Innovation in Diabetes, Copenhagen, Denmark presented a paper on ‘Understanding the cultural fit of the REDE model for physician-based communication skills training: A focus group discussion with South Indian patients with T2DM’
2. 2022: 29th International Conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care [virtual conference] presented a paper on ‘Development of a question prompt list for Indian cancer patients receiving radiation therapy treatment and their primary family caregivers’
3. 2021: International Psycho-Oncology Society World Congress of Psycho-Oncology (IPOS) [virtual conference] presented a paper on ‘Medical consultation through the lens of patients undergoing radiation treatment and their family members: A qualitative study from India’
4. 2020: International Psycho-oncology Society (IPOS) Academy 2020, Chennai, India presented a paper on 'Are they asking questions? Developing and feasibility testing a question prompt list for Indian cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy and their primary family carer'
5. 2017: National Academy of Psychology [27th Annual conference], IIT Kharagpur, India presented a paper on 'Supportive care among Indian cancer patients: A qualitative study'
6. 2017: National Academy of Psychology [27th Annual conference], IIT Kharagpur, India presented a paper on 'Indian cancer patients' satisfaction with medical consultations and their psychological well-being: A quantitative study'
7. 2017: National Academy of Psychology [27th Annual conference], IIT Kharagpur, India presented a paper on 'Health among Indian college students: A study examining the predictors of health behaviours.’
8. 2016: National Seminar at the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India presented a paper on 'Are you satisfied with care? A mixed-method study to understand patients' satisfaction with cancer communication'
9. 2014: 4th Meeting of Asia Pacific Psycho-oncology Network, Taiwan presented a paper on 'Journey through Cancer'- Cancer patients' experience in India'
- Awarded JGU research grant for carrying out research on Enhancing Healthcare Provider Skills in Domestic Violence Assessment and Intervention in Haryana & Delhi NCR in 2023 [Grant awarded: 3,64,430]
- Awarded Travel fellowship for presenting a paper at Research Accelerating Psychosocial Innovation in Diabetes, Copenhagen, Denmark in 2022
- Awarded First prize for poster presentation at the 29th International Conference of Indian Association of Palliative Care, Jaipur, India in 2022
- Received junior and a senior research fellowship from the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), Government of India for undertaking PhD work [2015-2020]
- ‘Best clinical implication paper’ for a paper presented at the International Psycho-oncology Society (IPOS) Academy 2020, Chennai, India
- Awarded "Certificate of Excellence for Outstanding Doctoral Research in Liberal Arts for the year 2018" on the occasion of 11th foundation day at IIT Hyderabad
- Silver Medal for Securing Highest CGPA in Liberal Arts – M.Phil. (Class of 2015, IIT Hyderabad)
- Awarded "Excellence in Academics" on the 6th Foundation Day at IIT Hyderabad for highest GPA in the year 2013
Quantitative Research Methodology, Cross-cultural Psychology, Health and Medical Psychology, Psychology of Illness, Environmental Psychology
1. Committee Member for IPOS Early Career Professionals in Psycho-oncology Committee
2. Member of International Psycho-oncology Society (IPOS)
3. Member of Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC)
- 2023-ongoing: Understanding illness beliefs, knowledge, attitude, and practice of Cervical cancer screening behaviour among Indian women: A qualitative study.
Site: Bangalore and Delhi NCR.
Role: Principal Investigator, planning, supervising student interns, execution and dissemination - 2023- ongoing: Enhancing Healthcare Provider Skills in Domestic Violence Assessment and Intervention in Haryana & Delhi NCR
Site: Multisite study,
Grant: JGU Research Grant [6 months]
Role: Co-Principal Investigator, planning, execution, and dissemination - 2022-ongoing: Understanding medical health workers' attitudes towards preparedness of suicide prevention and the need for the
training programme
Site: Pan India study
Role: Project coordinator between the University of Houston & O P Jindal Global University - 2020-ongoing: Words are all we have: Experiences of doctors' language, choice of words and style of talking among South Indian patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Site: Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kerala
Role: Training Research Assistants for focus group data collection, data analysis and supervising manuscript writing - 2020-2022: Diabetes care in a Pandemic
Site: Multisite study
Role: Data analysis, manuscript writing - 2020-2022: Experiences and challenges of women with PCOS and Hirsutism along with their mothers
Site: Hyderabad
Role: Supervising interns, manuscript writing - 2015-2019: Health among Indian college students: A study examining the predictors of health behaviours' as part of a coursework in Advance Health Psychology
Site: Residential engineering colleges in India [virtual data collection]
Role: Data collection, data analysis and writing up the manuscripts - 2015-2016: Pathways to care: A survey with Indian cancer patients at tertiary care centres in Hyderabad, India
Site: Hospitals in Hyderabad
Role: Survey formulation, data analysis and manuscript writing - 2014-2015: Diabetes care and Ramadan in Hyderabad city, South India
Site: Government Hospital, Hyderabad, India
Role: Data collection and data analysis