Touch Study
What does touch mean? An investigation into the experiences of pro-social, affectionate touch in older persons living in aged care: a qualitative case study.
We would like to learn more about your experiences of touch. Touch is a central part of social interaction in the life of human beings and has different significances to different people. We would like to explore what it means to you. We would also like to explore what sort of touch you have or want in your life, particularly within your current home setting. We are also interested to know more about how this changed during COVID-19.
- Are you over 18 years of age?
- Are you currently living in a residential care setting in Tasmania?
If so, you are invited to participate in a study. Your participation will include a 60-minute interview at your residential care home. The interview will be conducted by Dr Joanne Durkin on jdurkin4@une.edu.au. Joanne is a researcher at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales.
This project has been approved by the University of New England Research Ethics Committee (Approval No HE21-153, Valid to 28 Feb 2023).
Participant Information Sheet.
You are invited to participate in a research project being conducted by a team from the University of New England.
The research aims to understand your experience touch in your life. We would like to learn more about your experiences of touch, what it means to you and the impact that touch has on your life. We would also like to ask you if your perception or experience of touch changed because of COVID-19. Dr Joanne Durkin will conduct interviews. Professor Kim Usher AM and Professor Debra Jackson AO will support in the analysis and reporting of the results of the interviews in the research. Professor Salvatore will support the further analysis of the results which will be used to develop a play that will be performed to the general public. At the end of the research, the results will be published in academic journals and also be used to create a performance script (ethnodrama) that will be disseminated to the general public.
Research Study: What does touch mean? An investigation into the experiences of pro-social, affectionate touch in older persons living in aged care: a qualitative study.
This project aims to explore and understand what touch means to people living in an aged care setting. We will conduct an interview with you in person, in a meeting room in your care home. The interview will be recorded on a separate digital recording device (to ensure we have an accurate record of your story). The interview will take approximately 60 minutes. A typed copy of your interview can be provided to you after the interview for you to review and/or alter as needed. Your personal information will remain confidential. You will not be identified by name or other means in any publication of the results from this research. Although we will not be asking you about the following issues during the interview, there is one exception to confidentiality, namely, the researchers’ legal and ethical responsibility to report if you disclose current child abuse or any life-threatening situation. Your involvement in this study is completely voluntary. We respect your right to withdraw from the study at any time without any need for explanation. You may also choose to discontinue the interview at any time or choose not to answer a particular question. You do not need to provide any explanation if you decide not to participate in the study. All data (digital recordings of audio/researcher notes and transcripts) will be destroyed if you choose to withdraw. The interview questions may be sensitive given your experiences touch in your life. First you will be asked some questions about you including your age, gender and how long you have lived in your current home. Then you will be asked to share your experiences of touch, specifically what touch means you, what touch you want in your life, and your experiences or perception of touch during COVID-19. There is no requirement for you to share anything you don’t want to share. The questions are provided as a guide and you are able to tell us of your experiences in your own way. If you do not want to answer specific questions you can choose not to do so. Use of information It is likely that the research may raise distressing issues for you, and if it does, we can support you in ensuring you have access to psychological support services prior to or following your interview. The following support services provide free, confidential support. The researcher who conducted the interview (JD) will also offer follow-up telephone calls, 24 hours and 1 week after the interviews. Any hardcopy notes taken by the researcher, all digital recordings of the interviews and anonymised interview transcripts will be stored on the cloud.une.edu.au. This is UNE’s centrally managed cloud server and is managed by the UNE research team. Only the research team will have access to the data. If you are interviewed via zoom, recordings will also be stored on AARNet and stored on cloud.une.edu.au. All the data collected in this research will be kept for a minimum of five years, after which it will be disposed of by deleting relevant hard copy and computer files. This project has been approved by the University of New England Research Ethics Committee (Approval No HE21-153, Valid to 28 Feb 2023). Feel free to contact us with any questions about this research: Should you have any complaints concerning the manner in which this research is conducted, please contact: Research Ethics Officer Research Services University of New England Armidale, NSW 2351 Tel: (02) 6773 3715. Email: humanethics@une.edu.au
Thank you for considering this request and I look forward to further contact with you.
