CONSUMER EVALUATION RESEARCH TEAM

Published

Thursday, April 22, 2021 - 12:00 PM

Who we are

We are parents and family members, adolescents and young adults with cerebral palsy, researchers and clinicians with a passion for involving consumers in our reach. The team is lead by Dr Margaret Wallen, an occupational therapist at Australian Catholic University.

Why we are inviting you to join us

You are the experts in cerebral palsy and we have a lot to learn from you about what is important to people with cerebral palsy and their families. We would like to work with people with cerebral palsy and their families to make sure that we carry out research which will make an important impact on the lives of people with cerebral palsy.

More about the research. This team is new. You will be helping us very near the beginning of our journey.  Some of the activities as part of these meetings could include: interviewing potential research students to work with the team, decide on research questions, write/edit documents to ensure they provide information necessary for people with cerebral palsy and their families, trial surveys, analyse findings, and decide how to communicate the findings to the community.  Depending on your interests and availability you may be involved in other activities involved in carrying out the research. The team will work together and support one another to do all these activities.

We are asking you to:

• Attend meetings by Zoom – on average 1 to 2 hours per month.
• Provide your views and feedback on documents in between meetings – perhaps 1 hour per month

The research will start as soon as possible and continue until 2026, but you are free to be involved for as long or short a period as you wish.

Benefits to you

Mostly the research team and the quality of the research will benefit by your involvement. People who are research partners tell us that they benefit by:

• Learning more about cerebral palsy and treatments
• Helping others
• Contributing to important research
• Getting to know researchers, therapists and other people
• Learning more about research
• Learning new information and developing new skills

Our responsibilities to you

• Communicate clearly with you about roles and responsibilities, and research activities
• Build a team of trust and openness where members feel confident and safe to have a say and express their views – where we also have a laugh and enjoy our work together.
• Be flexible about involvement – making it as easy as we can for you to contribute to the research
• Support you in your role – to prepare you well for taking on your role with us, with education and a dedicated person to check in about how you are going
• We will provide a written reference for your résumé
• Pay you for your involvement - $40 per meeting plus preparation (using vouchers)

What happens next?

CLICK HERE –  to leave your contact details if you are interested in speaking with one of the team members or in expressing an interest in joining a team. Click your browser’s back arrow to read about the other projects!

We will be holding an information session using Zoom with more information before you commit to being involved.