E-support Proposal (Sneak Peak Before Friday!)

UHN Research Challenge

e-support proposal:

In order to create a medium for e-support we should first identify what is already insitu, both at UHN and other facilities. Again to re-iterate, the purpose of our research is to study the effectiveness of e-support on coping in post transplant patients.

Although there are many and varied forms of social media sites and forums on the web, the following sites were particularly interesting to us.

https://webmail.uhn.on.ca/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.caringvoices.ca/en/
https://webmail.uhn.on.ca/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.transplantbuddies.org/
https://webmail.uhn.on.ca/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://myplanet.planetcancer.org/
We would like to use a program called Ning to set up our e-support. (http://www.ning.com/). This site will allow us to easily create a forum where participants in our research study can sign up with a secure login and discuss issues with other patients. Costs for this type of e-support will be minimal (as our sample size will be small, i.e. < 150).

Estimated costs = $2.95/month. If conducting our study for 1 year, total cost = $35.40
Estimated timeline to set up the site would be 1 day then regular maintenance of the site. My suggestion for moderating the site would be that we take turns on a bi-weekly basis checking the site for 1) usage – ensuring that participants are actually posting on the site and 2) inappropriate comments or information, such as profanity, harassment or abuse. As creators of the site we will have to power to delete any inappropriate comments from the site, but posting of topics will be solely from the research participants. There will be no medical advice given on this site from health care professionals and this will be made aware to subject participants at the beginning of the study as well as on a disclaimer on the actual site.