People in Auckland and the North Shore, if you would like to contribute to the development of a new handbook for people with osteoarthritis, then this is for you.

The purpose of the project is to design an Osteoarthritis Handbook that is responsive to the needs of New Zealanders living with the disease. The study is done in two phases, the first will be a co-design workshop held between 5 pm and 9 pm 13 February 2020 with dinner and koha $100 vouchers at the Auckland University of Technology North Campus. The second phase will be a short survey about the prototype guidebook developed following the workshop. If you are interested in participating in the study, please read the participant information below and contact the project’s research assistant David Lalor – david.lalor@aut.ac.nz. 

Dr Daniel O’Brien is a senior lecturer in the physiotherapy department at AUT and has a specific interest in the management of osteoarthritis.

Why am I invited to participate in this research?

You have been identified because you either commonly treat or support people living with OA, or are living with OA yourself. If you are someone who lives with OA, you will have been contacted by Arthritis New Zealand because you are a member of their local support group. You are being invited to participate in this study because we would like to hear your thoughts and ideas about what would need to be included in a NZ OA Handbook and what it should look like. 

How do I agree to participate in this research?

Your participation in this research is voluntary (it is your choice) and whether or not you choose to participate will neither advantage nor disadvantage you. You are able to withdraw from the study at any time. If you choose to withdraw from the study, then you will be offered the choice between having any data that is identifiable as belonging to you removed or allowing it to continue to be used. However, once the findings have been produced, removal of your data may not be possible.

Should you wish to participate in the study, please contact the research assistant (David Lalor) via email at david.lalor@aut.ac.nz. He will take your contact details and register you for the co-design workshop.

What will happen in this research?

This study will be conducted in two phases. The first will use a co-design workshop methodology. The workshop will take place on AUT’s Northshore Campus at 5pm on Thursday 13th February and will run for 4 hours (we will stop in the middle for a short meal which will be provided). The workshop will be facilitated by Associate Professor Stephen Reay and Dr Ivana Nakarada-Kordic from the Good Health Design Team at AUT. They will lead a series of talks that ask the participants to discuss, write and draw their thought and ideas about what would make a good NZ OA Handbook. The discussion may be audio recorded and transcribed for later analysis and photographs of the process may be taken to inform the data analysis. 

If you choose to take part in this first workshop, you will be asked to share your views on what information you would like in an education resource and how you would like this information presented.  This will take place as a group discussion with 10 to 12 other people.

During the workshop, we will ask you to tell us what information you would like in an education resource.  We will show you some cards describing topics that we think would be useful to include in the education resource to see if you agree or can think of other topics.  This will help us understand how best to create the education resource and what to include.  We will also ask you some background information about yourself such as age, ethnicity, whether English is your usual language of conversation and what are your experiences of living with OA or supporting or treating people who are. To respect the privacy of others involved in the discussions, it is important you do not share what other people have said at the workshop with people who are not involved in this project. 

After this workshop, we will make up a paper prototype of the education resource based on the views expressed in this first workshop.  Following the co-design workshop, a communication design, with support from the design team will take the data collected from the workshop and develop a prototype of the NZ OA Handbook. The second phase of the study involves a copy of this prototype being posted to you with a short questionnaire asking about your thought about the prototype, i.e. what do you like and what can be improved? Once completed you will be asked to return the survey to the research team via prepaid envelope.

What are the discomforts and risks?

We do not anticipate any discomforts or risks associated with participating in this research.

What are the benefits?

There may be no direct benefit to you as a result of participating in this research beyond the knowledge that you are helping to develop educational research that may help people living with OA. Participation will be acknowledged in the form of koha ($100 supermarket voucher).

How will my privacy be protected?

All of the conversations and communications that occur during the co-design workshop and survey will be treated with the utmost confidentiality by the research team and the other participants. Should you wish to, you can be acknowledged as a participant of the co-design workshop that leads to the development of the OA Handbook (see consent form). This acknowledgement will appear in all publications and presentations of the work, and in the Handbook itself.

What are the costs of participating in this research?

The only cost is your time. The co-design workshop will take approximately 4 hours, and the survey and prototype feedback will take approximately 1 hour.

How long do I have to consider this invitation?

You will have 2 weeks to consider this invitation.

Will I receive feedback on the results of this research?

All participants will be provided with a one-page summary of the study findings (should they want one). Additionally, when the NZ OA Handbook is completed, all participants will be provided with a PDF copy.  

What do I do if I have concerns about this research?

Please notify Dr Daniel O’Brien about any concerns regarding the nature of this project: dobrien@aut.ac.nz, phone 09 921-9999 ext. 8707.

Please notify Kate O’Connor about any concerns regarding the conduct of the research: ethics@aut.ac.nz , 921 9999 ext 6038.

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