Caring at a distance

[Carolina_1407]

I am doing my PhD at Oxford Brookes University, looking at the experiences and needs of carers at a distance in palliative care. The study has been approved by the NHS Research Ethics Committee and we are now recruiting participants for an online survey.

We hope that this study will help us understand the issues faced by people who provide any kind of meaningful support to a relative who is near the end of life, but do so from a distance (i.e. they live away from the patient).

Please note that for this study, providing meaningful support does not necessarily mean that you are the "main carer" or the person that the rest of the family consider "the carer". You may be a relative who lives away from the patient, and you do your best to provide some kind of support.

If you would like to know more about the study, please follow the link below. The link will take you to the Participant Information Sheet, and then the actual online survey. It should take you around 15-20 minutes to fill in.

https://brookeshls.co1.qualtrics.com/SE ... TlSu2ZVrqR

I do hope you find this study worthwhile, and thank you for reading this.

With very best wishes,

Carolina

Department of Clinical Health Care
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Oxford Brookes University
Jack Straws Lane
OX3 0FL

My profile at Brookes: http://www.chc.brookes.ac.uk/carolina-c ... -comabella

My Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ehealth_CCC

[Brindleboy123]

Carolina....approval is required prior to posting such requests. I have brought your post to the attention of admin who will be in contact or advice in due course.

By the way, interesting subject - one of former carees was my late mother who lived in the UK whilst I lived in Spain (caring for my aunt too)! Not easy!

Bell x

[Carolina_1407]

Dear Bell,

Thank you for your post. I just assumed that it would be safe to post this under the "Research and surveys" category. Apologies if it is not.

Thank you for your comment on the topic - we do think that caring at a distance is becoming more and more relevant.

As a matter of fact, coincidentally I am originally from Spain although I have been living and working in academia in Oxford for many years. And I distance-care for my Granny who is in Spain, and also for my in-laws who are in the North of England. It is interesting how my situation mirrors yours, isn't it?

Anyway many thanks for you comments and best wishes,

Carolina

[Gavin_Macgregor]

Hi
Many thanks for posting. Approval granted and best of luck with the research. Come back and tell us your findings - we produced a report on distance caring http://www.carersuk.org/northernireland ... ng-the-gap

[Carolina_1407]

Dear Gavin,

Many thanks for your reply and for approving the post. Research like this could not be made without the help of actual carers.

Indeed I am familiar with the "Bridging the gap" report. Any other policy/information about this issue would be more than welcome!

Please note that we have Facebook and Twitter accounts for the project now, in case anyone is interested. I will be posting relevant resources for distance carers in both regularly.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carers-a ... 3175339708

Twitter account: https://twitter.com/DistanceCarers

Direct link to survey: https://brookeshls.co1.qualtrics.com/SE ... TlSu2ZVrqR

With best wishes,

Carolina

Carolina Casañas i Comabella
Department of Clinical Health Care
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Oxford Brookes University
Jack Straws Lane
OX3 0FL

[Scally]

My own parents live 350 miles away, but luckily I am not in a caring role for them. My mum, who is now 90, was a war bride originally from Germany: she flew between England and Germany several hundred times to care for my dear grandma, almost on a weekly or fortnightly basis. I have felt for a long time that carers travel costs should be refundable - for those of us like me who listened to Norman Tebbit's advice to 'get on our bikes' in the 1980's. I moved to Scotland to get away from his self-righteous bleating!

[Carolina_1407]

Thank you for your comment, Scally. However I can only include views about the topic through the survey or formal interviews in my research.

The inclusion criteria for the project are:

- Being at least 18 years old.
- Having a relative who is at a hospice or receiving palliative care at home.
- Providing any kind of meaningful support to them (this could be financial, emotional, organisational...) from a distance.

If you would like to know more about the project and consider taking the survey, please follow this link: https://brookeshls.co1.qualtrics.com/SE ... TlSu2ZVrqR

Many thanks for reading this.

With best wishes,

Carolina

Carolina Casañas i Comabella
Department of Clinical Health Care
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Oxford Brookes University
Jack Straws Lane
OX3 0FL