Recruitment of informal carers of children with diabetes

Hi. My name is Basil and I am currently completing my PhD in information systems. I am looking at information needs, behaviours and sources of informal carers. I am looking to recruit persons who provide unpaid care services for a child with diabetes under the age of 15 years. Please see below for additional information and feel free to email or phone me if you are interested or have any questions.

Information Needs, Behaviours and Sources of Informal Carers
Recruitment of informal carers of children with diabetes

A study at Melbourne University Department of Information Systems is seeking informal carers who are:
• Over 18 years of age
• A family member, relative or friend who is unpaid for his/her caring duties, but may be employed in other work.
• Caring for child between the age 2 and 14 years with a diagnosis of diabetes.
• Involving in the caring process regularly and providing one or a combination of practical or emotional care.
• Willing to volunteer to participate in a study investigating the information needs, behaviours and sources.

The aim of the project is to understand the information needs of informal carers, the reasons for which they need information, how their information needs arise, their information behaviour patterns and sources. I hope that the information obtained from this study will help information providers and developers provide and deploy more effective information systems that target informal carers and the persons needing care, and to evaluate how well existing information systems are fulfilling the information requirements of informal carers as well. This information will benefit carers’ lives and more importantly the lives of children with diabetes.

Participants would be asked to contribute to this study in two ways:

• The participants will be given a log file (activity diary) in which they will record tasks/activities/ events that they do or that come up every day in relation to their role as carers. The log sheets will take approximately 75 minutes to fill out over a period of one week.
• The participants will also be asked to participate in an interview of about 45 minutes.

To participate in this study please contact the researcher below to receive more details:

Basil Alzougool
The University of Melbourne
Tel: (03) 83441544 or email b.alzougool@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au


PhD Student who defends the rights of carers of children with Diabetes.