A survey of older adults in primary care in NHS Highland
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A personal and social interaction survey of older adults with and without long-term pain in primary care in NHS Highland
IRAS ID
129358
Contact name
Alasdair J Mort
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Aberdeen
Research summary
Long-term or ’chronic’ pain can be physically and socially isolating. Older adults with chronic pain may be further isolated through loss and distance from remaining family and friends. This isolation can have a negative effect on their well-being. Interaction with health and social care professionals may be the only face-to-face interaction that older adults with chronic pain receive. We think that technology could be used to help older adults to keep in touch with their care providers, enhancing this much-valued interaction. In order to produce technology of real value we need to find out about older adults, their chronic pain, the care they receive in their homes, and their use of technology. We propose to find out about this information using a questionnaire, which we would sent to a maximum of 2,500 patients aged over 65 years across 10 GP practices in NHS Highland. Patients would be split into two groups; those with chronic pain and those without. This allows us to explore how patients with chronic pain might be different in any way. This is very important information as it could really influence the design of our technology.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
13/NS/0074
Date of REC Opinion
11 Jul 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion