Researcher from University of the West of Scotland, Isla Scullion, is recruiting for a study relating to pets and early-onset dementia. Read more about Isla’s research and how to get involved below. 

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether owning pets is a positive or negative for people with early-onset dementia. The relationship between people with this type of dementia and pets hasn’t been the focus of much research in the past so this study will aim to look further into this. Participants will be a family member or close friend of someone who has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia and owns/has a close relationship with a pet.  It is up to you to decide whether or not to take part. If you do decide to take part you will be given an  information sheet to keep and be asked to sign a consent form. If you decide to take part you are still free to withdraw at any time up to 14 days after the interview has taken place without giving a reason. In order to withdraw, participants simply email the lead researcher and state they wish to withdraw. All participants will be required to do is take part in a semi-structured interview which will take place online using Microsoft teams and should take no longer than 60 minutes. All participants will have the option to have their camera on during the call otherwise only their audio will be recorded. The data will be anonymous and will be kept in a password protected OneDrive account. After the interview participants will not be required to do anything else for the study. By taking pet in this study participants will be helping to further the research into how to manage early-onset dementia which will hopefully be helpful to people in the future who find themselves in a position where either themselves, or someone close to them has been given this diagnosis.

If you are interested in taking part please contact Isla Scullion at B00374877@studentmail.uws.ac.uk.