Title of Study: Exploring the needs of military families with neurodivergent children

We are inviting you to take part in a research study. Before you decide, it is important that you know why we are doing the study and what is involved. Please read the following information carefully.

We are assessing the needs of military families with neurodivergent children (e.g. Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia). We want to hear the perspectives of all families regardless of whether your child is diagnosed, undiagnosed or currently going through the process of diagnosis. Through an online, anonymous survey we will explore existing provisions that families have access to, identify gaps in services and uncover barriers to accessing what is already available. We want to know about the impact of all this on family wellbeing and the differences in having formal (e.g. charities, organisations, NHS) and informal (e.g. family, friends) support. Better understanding of these key questions will help us to support the provision of services which will better support military families.

You are being invited to take part because you are in the military or the partner of a military personnel with a neurodivergent child (diagnosed, undiagnosed or awaiting diagnosis). You must be over 18 years of age to take part.

Participation is completely voluntary. You should only take part if you want to and choosing not to take part will not disadvantage you in anyway.

If you would like to take part, you will need to click continue at the end of this information sheet which will lead you to the eConsent form. You will see the statements which you will have the option to agree to.

Once you have provided your consent, you will be asked to complete some demographic and military related questions (e.g. age, gender, time away for you and/or your partner due to military tasks, etc).

You will also be asked to complete a questionnaire related to your family wellbeing and the different types of support you can or have accessed. For example, you will be asked to rate how helpful different family members, friends and other professionals (e.g. doctors) have been to you as a source of support to your family. Statements will also ask you to rate family interaction, parenting, wellbeing and disability related support. Here are some example statements: My family enjoys spending time together; Family members help the children to be independent; My family has the support we need to relieve stress; My family has a way to take care of our expenses; My family member with special needs has support to make friends.

Finally, you will be asked about the support you have available to you in relation to your neurodivergent child and what else would be helpful to you as a family. This will take no more than 30 minutes.

If you are interested in taking part in an interview to give us more details of your experience, you will have an option to click on a link and provide us with your name and email address. We will contact you via email within 4 weeks of you providing your email. We will send you the full information sheet and online consent form relating to the interview. If you are still happy to take part, we will arrange a day and time that suits you best. The interview can take place online, via MS Teams or in person at the University of Lincoln. Your name and email address will be separate to the questionnaires you have completed. The questionnaire will not be linked to you in any way.

You will not be paid to participate in the study.

The questions relate to your life as a military family and we want to better understand the challenges and benefits. Questionnaires will also include information on family wellbeing and social support. We hope that a better understanding will lead to more appropriate and effective support.

Some of the questions we ask will relate to mental health, wellbeing and family support, which may cause upset for some participants. Example statements include: ‘My family has the support we need to relieve stress’ ‘My family has medical care when we need’. One of the questions will also ask you how useful the potential sources of support are (e.g. your parents, relatives, children, friends etc).

The information we collect will be handled in confidence. No one will know you have taken part, as your responses are anonymous. If you choose to find out more about the interviews we will ask you to provide your name and email address, but this will be on a separate link and not connected to your answers on the survey.

The data obtained from the study will be stored securely on the university OneDrive in password protected files. Only the researchers will have access to it. The anonymous data from this study may be put in an Open Access repository for other researchers to use in future research.

If you wish to withdraw while completing the survey, simply close the browser and all your data will be deleted. If you have submitted your answers, these will be anonymous so it will not be possible to remove the data provided, as we will not be able to identify you in any way.

The findings will be published in an academic journal article after October 2024. Newsletters with the findings will also be shared through different military bases that we have advertised in, our research (i.e. Autism Research Innovation Centre; Linked Education and Academic Research Network) and military (i.e. Greater Lincolnshire LEP Defence and Security Board; Defence and Security research Network) networks. You can also contact the research team (contact details below) if you would like to know more about the findings.  

This research is being organised by Mirena Dimolareva, Niko Kargas, Victoria Brelsford and Julian Free at the University of Lincoln and is being funded by College of Health and Science QR Research and Impact Fund.

All research conducted by the University of Lincoln is looked at by an independent group of people, called a Research Ethics Committee, to protect your interests. This study has been reviewed and given favourable opinion by a University of Lincoln Research Ethics Committee [2024_17640].

It is very unlikely that this study would cause you any harm. If you have a concern or a complaint about any aspect of this study, you should ask to speak to the researchers who will do their best to answer your questions.  The researchers contact details are given at the end of this information sheet.

If you remain unhappy and wish to complain formally, you can make a formal complaint through the University complaints procedure or by contacting ethics@lincoln.ac.uk.

Contact details

Dr. Mirena Dimolareva midimolareva@lincoln.ac.uk  

Dr. Niko Kargas nkargas@lincoln.ac.uk

Dr. Victoria Brelsford vbrelsford@lincoln@ac.uk

Julian Free JFree@lincoln.ac.uk

Address:

School of Psychology

College of Social Science

University of Lincoln

Sarah Swift Building, 

Brayford Wharf East, 

Lincoln, 

LN5 7AY, 

If you need support with your mental health and wellbeing:

NHS offer different information on available services: Mental health services - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Mind offer information online, and you can also access their crisis team: Home - Mind  Call: 0300 123 3393

Call the Samaritans: 116 123 or email: jo@samaritans.org

SSAFA The armed forces charity: SSAFA has a network of volunteer caseworkers and specialised services, which provide practical support Dealing with mental health challenges | Mental wellbeing | SSAFA