Dear Doctor
My name is Ivana Grech and I am a student at the University of Malta, presently reading a Masters of Arts in Ageing and Dementia Studies. I am presently conducting a research study for my dissertation titled “Assessing the LGBT cultural competence in dementia care providers in Malta: A Quantitative Study.”
This study will provide insight on the Maltese cultural competence of healthcare workers working with older adults with dementia who identify as Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trangender and Bisexual (LGBT). This will generate quantitative data about the LGBT cultural competency of dementia care providers in the Maltese geriatric settings.
Data collection will involve the following steps. The multidisciplinary leads will be:
1) emailed with a forwardable link of the electronic survey (link below),
2) requested to circulate it to all the potential healthcare professionals who have a degree.
By clicking on the URL link provided, participants will be able to access the survey. The survey has an electronic declaration of the consent form and that participant is 18+ to participate prior to starting the survey.
Participants will take approximately five minutes to fill in the survey. Participation will be entirely voluntary and participants will be free to withdraw at any point, without any repercussions. All questions in the survey are required to be filled in. Items in the survey are intended to examine clinical preparedness, attitudes, and basic knowledge regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clients/patients.
At no point in the process will the researcher have the possibility to identify which healthcare professionals opted to fill in the survey. Thus, participants are fully anonymous from the researcher. The questions are not entity specific and participants will not be asked to provide name or other personal data that may lead to being identified. Data collected will be stored in a password protected account and only the researcher and the supervisor will have access to it. No IP addresses can be collected from the survey.
Data will be collected in mid-November and analysed in December and January. The study will be completed by the 30 th January and the data will be destroyed on the 1st of August 6 months after.
Link of the survey:
Should you require further information, please do not hesitate to contact me or my supervisor; both our contact details are provided below.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Researcher
Name: Ms. Ivana Grech
Email: ivana.grech.15@um.edu.mt
Supervisor
Name: Professor Marvin Formosa
Email: marvin.formosa@um.edu.mt