If you choose to take part, you will complete an online survey in which we ask about your demographic information, such as your age, gender, and ethnicity, as well as your thoughts and beliefs about gender, sex, and relationships. We will also ask you about any training or support you have received for working with older LGBTQ+ people, as well as your social contact with LGBTQ+ people, and your religiosity. These will be asked using both multiple choice questions and open fields where you can write what you like.
Your data will be collected anonymously and only the researchers will have access to the raw data. This will take approximately 20 minutes. Taking part is voluntary and you can withdraw from the project at any time by clicking the indicated button on the survey page. As participation is anonymous it will not be possible to withdraw your data once you submitted the completed survey.
If you complete the survey, we will analyse the data alongside other data we are gathering from your local council and other councils in England, including answers from other social care workers at those councils. We will look at the relationships between your beliefs and other variables and identify key themes relevant to improving social care assessments for older LGBTQ+ people, including what is working well and where there are particular problems that require addressing.
We will communicate the findings and key messages to older LGBTQ+ people, social care services and social care workers through published reports, conference presentations and webinars. These will include a webinar for your councilto help them improve their specific service. If you want to hear more about the study after the data collection is finished, we can post or email you a short summary of the research findings if you wish. We will store your contact information separate from your survey responses to maintain your anonymity. It is our hope that messages from the research may help provide better social care for older LGBTQ+ people.