Research, nursing

A researcher who conducted a study on the experiences of informal carers of terminally ill patients had difficulty gaining access to participants. In many cases this was because nurses would not refer them to the researcher without the permission of a doctor.

AIM: This paper explores the use of ecomaps as a research tool for capturing data, using the example of the dynamic nature of social networks from which informal carers of people living with motor neurone disease draw their support. BACKGROUND: The need for social support in relation to health maintenance and disease management has been identified in the literature but little has been published about ways to investigate support networks.