Hep C Discussion Forum

**Posts:** 6

Hello Everyone! Hep C Researcher

**Posts:** 6

Fantastic! Thank you Deli.

I will send info sheets and start organising dates/times consent and questions with people very shortly.

Very sorry to have not been on here for a couple of weeks - experienced a bit of a delay as I've decided to interview some students about what they know about Hep C too and been organising that with students returning for the new academic year.

**Posts:** 70

Count me in.

**Posts:** 6

smile That's fantastic, thank you!

Just in the process of refining my questions and then I will be sending them out to everyone who has expressed an interested in taking part.

I'll send you an information sheet on the study through shortly

Heather

**Posts:** 127

You can count me in for a interview. smile

**Posts:** 6

Hi Lau,

Thanks for offering to help with the research that would be fantastic.

Interviews can be done online or by phone. Also if you (or anyone else) would prefer to do it face to face, I'd come to you to make it as easy as possible for you to participate.

Heather

**Posts:** 1101

Hi Heather,

if the interviews can be done by phone, on-line, etc then count me in.

Face-to-face would be hard based on our respective locations, but anything I can do to help I will.

Regards

Lau

**Posts:** 6

Hi

I really appreciate you asking these questions and giving me the opportunity to clarfiy

a) - ask you to post to the moderators first (just to ensure the questions/survey is appropriate).

I think I should make it clear that I'm not asking to use the forum itself as a research tool. I am recruiting from Hep C services around the UK and I know not everyone uses services (for whatever reason) so the forums enable me to tell people who may not necessarily otherwise find out, what I'm doing and how it's going and therefore they can get in touch if they want to participate in any way - this would be totally voluntary though - I understand people here may also not want to contribute directly but still might be interested in what I'm doing and what I've found.

I'm hoping to do one to one interviews with anyone who would like to take part and anyone who expresses an interest in participating would be sent a copy of the interview schedule before the interview goes ahead which would take place seperately away from the forum so as not to compromise its main purpose.

b) - provide ethical assurances about your research from a supervising lecturer.

I've been through Lancaster University's Ethical Approval process and received approval for the research. I can provide further evidence for this if anyone who would like to see it. I am also waiting to hear back from the NHS Ethics Panel that my research can go ahead and I can recruit in services.

c) - research is done in a an open post - not a private post where appropriate.

I'm happy to be as open and clear as possible and info sheets and anything that did take place on the forum would be conducted openly where appropriate, although obviously protecting participant confidentiality is paramount. Generalised questions might be posed to the forum to give them an idea of what I'm asking but any actual interviews (and arrangements for interviews) would be conducted privately.

I hope this is clear for everyone and if I can explain anything else any further please do just ask

Heather smile

**Posts:** 1101

Hi Heather,

there's no problem with a researcher joining the Forum and asking questions, BUT as a former research student myself we would :-

a) - ask you to post to the moderators first (just to ensure the questions/survey is appropriate).
b) - provide ethical assurances about your research from a supervising lecturer.
c) - research is done in a an open post - not a private post where appropriate.

I know how hard research is and we'd like to help in any way as long as you're happy to comply.

Best Regards

Moderators

**Posts:** 6

Hi Everyone,

My names Heather Mack and I'm a research student at Lancaster University UK.

I'm currently working on a research project for my PhD on how Health and Social Care professionals (i.e anyone from GP, Key Workers, Consultants, Midwives, Social Workers, Nurses, Prison Workers etc.) are responding to people who are living with or who have cleared Hep C.

By joining the forum I'm hoping to
a) make sure my research stays relevant for the people it's meant to benefit and

b) to give people who want to, a chance to ask questions/make suggestions about things they think I should consider.

I'm basically hoping to approach people with Hep C to do an interview (which I'm hoping will take place from September if I can get everything ready in time!) about their experiences of living with Hep C and of the support/services they received (or didn't).

Based on what I find I then want to go an ask a range of Health and Social Care professionals about the issues that were deemed important in the interviews with Hep C (all anonymously and confidentially of course) and about how they think they are responding to people with Hep C.

I'm looking for people who might want to talk to me about their experiences of Hep C/services in an interview (I'll post my poster on here too with all the details).

All questions and comments are very welcome and I'll keep you posted with regular updates as I go along so you can see what I've found...