Online Support Group Use and Wellbeing of Carers of People with ID
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Online Support Group Use and Psychological Wellbeing of Relatives and Paid Carers of People with Intellectual Disabilities
IRAS ID
271180
Contact name
Darren David Chadwick
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Wolverhampton
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Social support has been identified as a key factor in human psychological well-being. Support groups exist both in offline and online communities. There are strong links within the literature between social support (both on and offline), well being and empowerment- participating in support groups can help mediate stress levels and boost resiliency. Online Support Groups provide opportunities for people to access support, information and advice on a variety of different types of psychological and physical health conditions and to interact with other users who may have experienced similar life circumstances.
Parents and carers of people with intellectual disabilities can experience higher levels of stress than other members of the general population, which places them at higher risk for poorer psychological health and well-being. People with intellectual disabilities, and their carers, are among the most disadvantaged groups. We aim to establish a deeper understanding of their support seeking behaviours, with a view to identifying possible barriers. The research aims to explore the importance of carer networks and peer support as an adjunct to existing service support in health care. The Support Hope and Resources Online Network (SHaRON) is an online support network used across services in Berkshire Healthcare. SHaRON has recently been implemented in learning disabilities services with a platform for relatives and paid carers (LD-SHaRON).
Our research questions are as follows:
1. To explore the experiences of relatives and paid carers of people with intellectual disability, of using LD-SHaRON.
2. To investigate how the physical and psychological wellbeing of relatives and paid carers of people with intellectual disabilities relates to their engagement with online support groups, online and offline social support, resilience, optimism, and online empowering processes, and whether this changes over time.REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/WM/0170
Date of REC Opinion
14 Aug 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion