Introduction to Journaling

What is Aging By Design?

The Health Foundation of Western and Central New York has contracted with Overlap on a project called Aging By Design. The goal of the project is to understand and improve the experiences of vulnerable older adults and caregivers in Western and Central New York.


We are looking for 30 people to participate in a journaling activity

Journaling is a simple way to help us learn a lot about vulnerable older adults/caregivers and their experiences. It is also an activity that they can do when and where they want to.

What we’re asking for

We are looking for 30 vulnerable older adults and their caregivers to participate in a journaling activity. 

We will send participants a journal with some questions in it. Over a two-week period in November-December, 2016, they write their answers to the questions in the journal, or you/someone else helps them do that. They can answer what ever questions are comfortable with from the journal. Then, they send the journal back to us.

How we’ll use the information participants share in their journal

Any information participants share with us will be collected, used and shared to try and improve the experiences of vulnerable older adults and caregivers in Western and Central New York. We will not use it for any other purpose. We may communicate what participants tell us to other people using documents, visuals or maps throughout the process. There is a small risk that what we share with others might lead someone participants know to recognize their story. We will try to reduce this risk by blending information a participant give us with information from other participants. At the end of the project we will wait 1 year and then destroy any information we have collected.
Participation is voluntary

Participation in this project is voluntary. Participants can choose whether to take part or not. Participants can also stop participating at any time even after they have started. If they choose to stop participating or not to be involved, they will not be affected. Nothing bad will happen and nothing will change.

Participation is anonymous

Participation in this project is anonymous. We will not associate their name with any information provided in the journal. There is a small risk that based on what a participant tells us someone who knows then well might figure out that they have participated. We will try to reduce this risk by blending information a participant gives us with information from other participants.

Changed their mind about participating? No problem!

Participants have the right to stop doing any part of the journaling activity at any time. They also have the right to stop participating entirely. Participants can do this at any time, without any negative consequences. To do so, participants should tell us what they want, so that we can make it happen.

  • If they wish to drop out at any point during the activity, please let us know so we can stop contacting them and remove their data from our results..
  • If they do not want to answer a question, simply leave it blank.
  • If they do not want us to include a story or other piece of information in our results, have them let us know and we will remove it. We can do this right up until any reports are published. 

Know someone who is interested in journaling? Let us know by completing this short survey.

If you know someone who is interested in being a journaling participant, complete this survey. This will tell us a bit about the participant so that we can make sure journaling is a good fit. While we only have capacity for 30 people to participate in the journaling activity, we will use other methods to engage with anyone who is interested. This might mean filling out a different type of tool, having a conversation with us or joining us to design solutions.  

Have some questions? Contact us!

If you have any questions or concerns about the journaling activity at any time, please contact Aaron Krolikowski, Project Lead at (716) 579-0922.

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