PLEASE HELP – LAST CHANCE!!: Traumatic Amputees needed to help with Research

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO HELP DAVID GLADWELL WITH HIS RESEARCH SO IF YOU FEEL YOU HAVE INFORMATION THAT COULD HELP HIM WITH HIS IMPORTANT STUDY HE’D BE DELIGHTED TO HEAR FROM YOU.

David Gladwell, a retired lawyer and a BACP qualified counsellor, is currently doing an MSc in counselling. He is looking to recruit research participants who have suffered a traumatic amputation. His study covers amputees and those with spinal cord injury and, while he has managed to recruit people with SCI, sadly not many amputees have come forward to date. He is keen to rectify this as there is currently a serious paucity of research into the psychological effects of traumatic amputation.

This research is all for a good cause; post traumatic amputation counselling is certainly an area that many amputees consider could do with improvement. If you fit David’s criteria, or come close, and you’d like to help out with this valuable study, which could well be of future benefit to other traumatic amputees,  please contact David Gladwell on the e-mail address below.

(Entry with comments also on Miscellaneous Page)

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The experience of counselling for those with a traumatic disability

Volunteers sought

This research project is intended to assist others who in future will receive an injury such as yours. It is being undertaken as part of a postgraduate study in Therapeutic Counselling at the University of Greenwich, and has been approved by the University Research Ethics Committee.

The central element is a study of your own experience of becoming disabled: the experience you have lived. That will provide the context for an investigation of the factors, and specifically the rôle of counselling, which might have affected the course of your rehabilitation.

Your participation will take the form of an interview, probably lasting about an hour and a half, during which I shall ask you to describe your emotional journey since your accident. I shall not impose any particular structure but will prompt you with open-ended questions. The object is to gather a narrative of your actual experience.

The interview could be at your home or somewhere else where you feel comfortable. It will be recorded and transcribed. Subsequently you will have an opportunity to comment on the interpretation being made of your account to test its reliability. All steps will be taken to ensure your confidentiality and anonymity.

You may withdraw from the research at any time up to the analysis of the data. Your participation is entirely voluntary. I do hope, however, that you would find it a rewarding and an interesting exercise.

If -

• You are between 18 and 40
• Have had an amputation following trauma between one and five years ago, and
• Received some form of counselling or psychotherapeutic support after your injury

and are interested in taking part, or have any questions at all, please email me at gd609@gre.ac.uk

David Gladwell MBACP

Department of Psychology and Counselling

The University of Greenwich