Study Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the emotional well-being of family caregivers for individuals with persistent mental illness.
Participant Criteria
Family caregivers must be at least 21 years of age, reside in Tennessee, and report being the primary/main caregiver to an adult and individuals with a mental illness must be able to read, write, and speak English and be willing to use the Zoom computer application. Professional caregivers, such as nurses and nurse aides, or those caring for someone with dementia or a developmental disorder do not qualify.
Participant Activities
The family caregiver and the individual with persistent mental illness will need to consent for the caregiver to the study during a nonrecorded video session with an investigator. The caregiver will complete about one hour of surveys online. An investigator may contact the caregiver again for an audio-video recorded interview based on their survey responses to allow for diversity in
participants. Half or less of the caregivers completing surveys will be invited to participate in interviews. Caregivers will be compensated for their time.
Contact
Anyone interested in participating in this study may contact the Primary Investigator (PI), Amanda Matthaei, BSN, RN, by email at amatthae@uthsc.edu.
This study is funded by the Tennessee Nurses Foundation. Amanda Matthaei, BSN, RN is a PhD nursing student at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Dissertation chair and supervising research professor is Mona Newsome Wicks, PhD, RN, FAAN.