Please read this information carefully. You are welcome to ask any questions you have of the research team. You may wish to speak with trusted friends, family or others to help you decide on whether or not to take part.
Your participation in the study is voluntary and if participating, you may choose not to answer any questions, for any reason. You may withdraw from the study at any time.
This information is for Phase 1 of the project described in the general information sheet. Phase 1 splits into three parts. You may choose to take part in all three, or only one or two parts.
What happens in Phase 1?
Having had a look at what training already exists, the research team will start to design the proposed new training, what it should contain and how it should look.
What will I be doing? For this 1st phase of the project, you are invited to take part in the following:
How long will this phase last?
- your involvement in part 1 would last about three months.
- we would like you to be involved throughout Phase 1 but you may choose how much or how little you would like to contribute. We would give you a clear timeline of when and how much you need to do.
Will I be paid?
You would be paid for your time at a rate of £25/hour.
Will there be Training and support?
You will receive initial training on collaborative research, and support throughout. If you require any specific accommodations to make the project more accessible, please let us know, and we will do our best to enable these.
What will be involved?
1st: You will be invited to take part in an interview. Researchers from the universities will make written transcripts of what is said in all the interviews and then carefully read all of them to identify common themes.
2nd: you will be invited to complete a survey. The researchers will analyse your responses to the survey – along with all the other participants – to identify and highlight what you all think would be important targets, or key points, for the training.
3rd: you will be asked to review the training targets collected from the interviews and surveys. The researchers will bring together all of your contributions to finalise the training themes and targets.
Finally: The researchers will summarise the findings and share them with the members of the whole project team, including the advisory board.
Who will know I am taking part in this project?
All information will be kept strictly private and confidential. It is up to you who you choose to tell about the project. Everything you say will be anonymised, that is, you will not be identified in any of the writings, reports or training materials. If the results of this study are published and presented at meetings, your name will not be shown, unless you want it to be. Taking part or not taking part in the study will have no effect on your access to services or resources, or on your employment, current or future.
What will happen with our contributions?
Your contributions will help to design training for social workers working with autistic people (ages 50+) to improve assessment, engagement and delivery of services.
We will also be writing up the findings from our research in publications and presenting them at conferences. You are invited to contribute either anonymously or as a named contributor, or not at all, according to your preferences.
Contact details
If you have any questions you would like answered about the project, or for a copy of this information sheet, please contact:
Laura Lennuyeux-Comnene on 020 8194 0374 or by email: l.lennuyeuxcomnene@gold.ac.uk
Prof Rebecca Charlton on 020 7078 5130 or by email: r.charlton@gold.ac.uk
