Dr. Shweta Chawak

Dr. Shweta Chawak, PhD is currently an Assistant Professor at Jindal School of Psychology and Counselling. She received her doctoral degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India. She has over six years of experience in research and one year of experience as a Lecturer. Through her PhD, she developed and tested the feasibility of an intervention which introduced the question prompt list to Indian cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy and their primary family caregivers. Ms Chawak was awarded a Certificate of Excellence for outstanding doctoral research in liberal arts for the year 2018 by the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India. In 2015, she was awarded a silver medal for her MPhil degree. Her research was on psycho-oncology and focused on understanding patients’ perceptions of cancer consultation in the Indian medical setting.

Dr. Chawak’s research interests lie in health and medical psychology, with a particular focus on understanding and improving communication in the healthcare settings using a multistakeholder perspective, women’s health, diabetes management and health behaviours. She had the privilege to be invited as a guest speaker to talk on the topic ‘’What Do Patients Need? A Qualitative Study Exploring Indian Cancer Patients’ Needs and Expectations from their Oncologists, Family and Social Network, and Other Cancer Patients.’’ at International studies seminar at Osaka University, Japan. She was invited as a doctoral student speaker at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad to talk on the topic ‘‘Are they asking questions? Developing and feasibility testing a question prompt list for Indian cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy and their primary family caregiver’. Additionally, she was invited to her alma mater ‘Smt. MMP Shah Women’s College of Arts & Commerce, SNDT University, Mumbai, India’ for a guest session on ‘Need for research in Psychology’.

Dr. Chawak has also presented her papers at several national and international conferences such as the ‘International Psycho-Oncology Society World Congress of Psycho-Oncology (IPOS) held in Japan (and virtually)’, ‘Clinical Oncology Society of Australia: 46th Annual Scientific Meeting (COSA), Adelaide, Australia’ and ‘Indian Cancer Congress, Bangalore, India’. She has also published several research papers and a book chapter in national and international peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Cancer Education, Patient Education and Counselling, Menopause and Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome.

During her Master’s and Doctoral years, Dr Chawak worked as a Teaching Assistant and had the opportunity to teach introductory courses and core courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. After her Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology, she was appointed as a Lecturer, where she taught several courses to students of Master in Clinical Psychology. Some of the courses taught were Research Methodology and Statistics, Cognitive and Counselling and Psychotherapy. This gave her the opportunity to engage in evidence-based teaching and encourage students to engage in applied-based learning.

Journal Articles

1. Lathia, T., Selvan, C., Namjoshi, S., Chawak, S., Kelada, L., & Chittem, M. (in press). Indian physicians’ attitudes and practice regarding menopause and its management. Menopause [Impact factor: 3.310]
2. , 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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2022.05.003 [Impact factor: 3.46]
3. 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 [Impact factor: 0.22]
4. 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. [Impact factor: 1.21]
5. 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. [Impact factor: 2.86]
6. 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. [Impact factor: n/a]
7. 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. [Impact factor: 1.05]
8. 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. [Impact factor: 1.54]
9. 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. [Impact factor: 0.66]
10. 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. [Impact factor: 0.96]

Book Chapter

1. 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.