Dear Fellow OCF Members and Visitors:
I am posting this here instead of under the "caregiver" forum in the hopes it will catch your attention.
As many of you know, I am a nurse practitioner who is currently a doctoral student and I am collecting data on the stress of being a caregiver of a partner/friend/relative/spouse with any form of oral cancer for my dissertation.
More importantly, I am the wife of David, himself a nurse, who is an OCF member and 4-year survivor of tonsil cancer.
In short, I have a firsthand knowledge about this disease and what it feels like to care for someone undergoing treatment. I have also felt the physical and psychological strain of the caregiving role so I "get it".
Many of you have answered my call for study participants and have graciously filled out the survey I have sent to you by mail and returned it with your thoughts about the experiece.
The data so far has been very rich and I will have LOTS to share with the medical and nursing communities about the stress caregivers are under when a loved one is newly diagnosed, having treatment, or recovering from oral cancer and what we as professionals need to do better to offer support.
To date, I still NEED some additional participants to ensure that the data represents the population of caregivers well and makes the study statistically valid.
You do NOT need to be an OCF member to participate and there is no cost or obligation to you other than the 20 mins. or so it takes to fill out the survey. Type of oral cancer or form of treatment does not matter-all caregievrs are welcome. You are eligible if you are a caregiver now or have been in the past.
Please know that your input is CRITICAL to helping me spread the word about how difficult it is to be a caregiver of a person with oral cancer and what our unique needs are.
Data collection will be open until the end to February.
Please contact me if you are interested in helping.
Many thanks to those who have given voice to their feelings and for helping me honor the caregivers in your lives.
KCDC
(Kimberly Crocker Crowther)
e-mail:
[email protected]
