1. Research Plan

2. Statement of Topic “To explore the range of services available to Carers and discover whether they meet their needs”. This is a Needs Based Analysis with a focus on the Mental Health of Carers. We will study the range of services available.

3. Mental Health related issues The identified stressors on the Mental Health of Carers were: Financial worries Loneliness and isolation Anxiety Grief Despair Lack of support and understanding Lack of resources (and knowledge of the same) Inability to cope Fear of failure Being welfare dependent Loss of control Exhaustion Sleep issues Low self-esteem Eating Disorders Self and other harm

4.  Some possible solutions will be explored.  Implementing a Case Management approach possibly within the proposed Disability Insurance Scheme.  Educating doctors to assign a Case Manager.  Raise awareness of GP’s about the need for support for Carers.

5. Obtaining a right for Carers to get a good hearing about: Doctors Therapists Centrelink Housing Transport Appropriate referrals Respite services

6. Research Plan 1.Identify your Community, Who are they, where are they and outline how you will learn about them. Who The community we are studying is those people who are Carers i.e., those people who have the duty of primary care for others where there is some degree of mental illness, disability, dependence issue or acquired injury. The Carers can be older, younger or middle aged. They can be male or female. Carers can be family members, other relatives, partners, in other cases friends of the consumer.

7. What is the relationship between the Carer and the Consumer? Direct family member? Other relative? Related by marriage? Married/Partner? Friend? Other? What is the age of the Carer? What is the age of the Consumer? What is the age of the Carer relative to Consumer? Older? Younger? Peer? What is the gender of the Carer? Gender of the Consumer?

8. Research Plan 1. Identify your community, who are they, Where are they and outline how you will learn about them. Where Carers can be found anywhere in the general population across NSW and Australia. They are in cities (large and small), smaller towns, in rural and remote communities. They live in houses, units, semi-permanent accommodation, hostels and refuges.

9. Research Plan 1.Identify your community, who are they, where are they and outline How you will learn about them. How we will learn about them We will learn about the Carers, their lives, needs and wishes by the following means: Talking to Carers – through interviews, face to face surveys, forum groups, spending time with them. Data Gathering – surveys (printed and online), review of other surveys and research, published statistics, news and media, journals, reputable internet sites

10. Carer Support Groups – talk with, interview, attend related meetings. Professionals who deal with Carers – doctors (GPs), Intake workers, Case workers, Social workers, Psychiatric units, Counsellors, Therapists Peak bodies – Carers NSW, Mental Health Council of Australia

11. 2. What key sources are you going to use to develop a profile of your Community? Primary sources are : Carers Support groups Peak Bodies Government departments Mental Health Professionals (MHP) Counsellors and other therapists Surveys (printed and online), interviews, forum groups Information nights

12. Secondary sources are: Other published research (surveys, interviews, etc.) Reviews of literature Media Carer agency management reports Statistics (Australian Bureau of Statistics, others?) Books (public and private libraries)

13. 3. How will you know that your research is valid? Types of validity:  Conclusion (relates to observation) – Is there a relationship between the needs our Carers and the benefits of Case Work?  Internal (relates to observation) – is there a direct relationship between the needs of the Carers and the need for Case Work? Are there any more primary needs? Validity is “the best available approximation to the truth of a given proposition, inference, or conclusion”. In this context validity relates to our hypothesis.

14.  Construct (link between theory and observation) – did we establish the need for Case Work and was this measured in our study?  External (relates to observation) – given that Carers might benefit from a Case Work approach can we make valid observations about other CSI needs and Case Work?  “Introduction to Validity”, TAFE class notes

15. 4. How will you know that your research is reliable? Reliability is “the extent to which an experiment, test, or any measuring procedure yields the same result on repeated trials”. Our methods will include surveys, interviewing case studies, information gathering across a wide range both client and professionals in this sector. As such this is readily repeatable.

16. 5. How will you ensure that your research is representative of your community? The research will be shown to be representative of the chosen community by comparing our sample population with a statistical analysis based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Mental Health Council of Australia survey. We will expect to see the proportions of self-declared carers to be co-measure with that reported in these two other sets of statistics. A variation of twenty percent (or more) would indicate that our community was not adequately represented.

17. 6. How will you liaise with your community to research your topic? The team will liaise with the Carer community through the following means: Talking to Carers – through interviews, face to face surveys, forum groups, spending time with them. Carer Support Groups – talk with, interview, and attend related meetings. Professionals who deal with Carers – Doctors (GPs), Intake Workers, Case Workers, Social Workers, Psychiatric Units, Counsellors, Therapists; by interview and personal contact Peak bodies – Carers NSW, Mental Health Council of Australia; by email letter, attending meetings, attending training

18. 7. How have you developed the key issue of interest for your Community. i.e. What is your hypothesis? Our hypothesis is that Carers could benefit from a Case Work approach to their needs. We understand Case Work to be a full and comprehensive treatment of the full range of their needs by a qualified person who has a full end experienced knowledge of this area of the Community sector.

19. We understand the benefits of casework to be: Inform and educate the carers about their choices and options Relieving their anxiety and uncertainty List and prioritise the carer’s need Making appropriate referrals as needed and agreed by the client Review and re-consider their needs as time passes

20. 8. How will you cater for ethical considerations, which include how you will work with your community, how you will store your information and how you will maintain confidentiality? How we will work with the community In all our work with the community we will “protect the mental and physical welfare, rights, dignity and safety of participants of research involving humans, their data or human tissue”.

21. We will do this by remembering that we are dealing with people with their own values, culture, needs, wants and wishes. This implies that respect is the primary consideration in dealing with our community We will (or are advised to), ethically, and respectfully consider our carers by always asking: Would you like to participate in our research? How would you like to participate in our research? What would you like to see asked about in our research?

22. How we will maintain confidentiality Gather information anonymously in most instances We agree that any other information heard, seen, witnessed during our information gathering is to be considered confidential and sacrosanct. We will promise our community that confidentiality will be maintained at all time. This will be done by: De-identifying any material that may contain any information such as name, address, telephone number and places and detailed times Such personal information will not be recorded, kept or recalled by any means except with and by members of the research team.

23. How we will store our information Electronic forms will be kept on personal computers which will be protected by passwords. Paper records will be kept in the possession of the team or under lock and key. Backups of all electronic data will be kept and this also will be protected by password.