The aim of this website
Dealing with the bipolar disorder of loved one can be challenging. The aim of this research is to create a freely accessible, useful information website for close family, partners and friends (caregivers) of people with bipolar disorder.
How will your feedback help?
Your feedback will help us to asses if the information on bipolarcaregivers.org is useful and if there are ways to improve it.
What does participation in this research involve?
This survey is for all visitors to the website who are 18 years or over. Participation involves filling in this very brief feedback survey and should take less than 5 minutes.
Caregivers of people with bipolar disorder also have the option of completing a short follow up survey (about 5-10 minutes to complete) to give a bit more feedback in a months time.
Who is conducting this research?
This project is being conducted by Orygen Youth Health Research Centre (OYH) at the Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne. It will form part of a PhD research project conducted by Lesley Berk under the supervision of Professor Tony Jorm, a Professorial Fellow at OYH Research Centre and NHMRC Australia Fellow. The research is funded by a scholarship provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Is this survey confidential?
Information that you provide when responding to this survey is confidential. You will not be asked to identify yourself and results will be published in the form of non-identifiable group percentages and common themes. Apart from being published in scientific journals, the findings will be reported in a PhD thesis and summarized on the bipolarcaregivers.org website.
In accordance with university policy, survey responses will be stored electronically under password protection for at least 5 years after publication, and will not be used for any purposes other than those described here. If you want to complete the follow-up survey and send the researcher your email address, it will be stored separately from your survey responses under password protection, and deleted once your participation is over.
What if I change my mind?
Participation in this research is voluntary. You can exit the survey at any time. If you change your mind about participating, you are free to withdraw from the project and you may also withdraw your data if you wish.
Are there any risks?
There are no known risks associated with this research. Participation may be a positive experience as participants are contributing their views to evaluate and improve a resource to benefit caregivers. In the unlikely event that completing the survey causes you any distress, you can contact the researchers Lesley Berk by email: lberk@unimelb.edu.au, or by phone: +61-402 518 843 or Professor Tony Jorm by email: ajorm@unimelb.edu.au, or by phone: +61-3-9342 3747 to discuss this and your support options.