Day by Day

People with long-term health issues have to take care of themselves in many ways. They are given guidelines by their doctor and in some instances they attend workshops and participate in other learning activities to learn new skills for self-care, e.g. they are taught how to inject themselves with Insulin if they have Diabetes. Many people search the Internet for information about their health issues, and often download apps onto their phones (e.g. medication reminders) and purchase devices (e.g. pedometers) to help them track and record their progress. Many also join social media support groups (e.g. in Facebook), or follow people they admire (e.g. on Twitter and blogs) who are writing about how they handle their health issues. People like to tell stories about their health, and I am interested in hearing their stories.

 

My research question is therefore, ‘How and why do people incorporate technologies into their self-care activities?’ I would like to see if there is a difference between the stories of people who are not clinically trained, those who are clinically trained, and those who are or have been consumer representatives in hospitals or other services.

People are invited to participate in three different ways:

• an interview with me
• write an email or set of emails telling me their stories
• tell their stories in my Facebook group, ‘Self-e-health’

For more information follow the links to the Participant information sheet and Consent Form (for interviews and email stories) and the Facebook group.

Approved by the University Of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee on 18 July 2017 for three years. Reference Number 18629.