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Research participant blog: "Health professionals can make such a contribution to the future health of the nation"

Published: 09 October 2019
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Kaye Fraser, from Macclesfield, East Cheshire, has had positive experiences taking part in research after signing-up to the NIHR initiative Join Dementia Research. 

As part of NIHR's #YourPathInResearch campaign running in October 2019, Kaye blogs about the important role health professionals played in her research journey - and why those working in the NHS might consider following their own career in clinical research. She writes:

 

"I have a perfectly fine brain thank you - just ask my children! Why would I want to take part in dementia research?"

That's what I'd always thought, but when I saw a poster asking for volunteers to Join Dementia Research when I was visiting my GP surgery, I thought that is something I could do to make a contribution to our wonderful NHS, and to help researchers understand what is happening when the brain goes awry.

The researchers were asking for healthy volunteers as well as people with diagnosed dementia. I’m a professional musician, not a medic, but I’m aware that the brain is such a mysterious organ, and that research into its workings is the only way to understand how it functions - or what is happening when it goes wrong.

After signing-up, I spent several hours completing cognitive tests and questionnaires online through the Join Dementia Research portal, and must say I really enjoyed the challenge! I was then invited to join the SenseCog study and was visited at home by the lead researcher and her assistant, for more cognitive tests, as well as sight and hearing tests. Again, it was an enjoyable and fascinating experience and the researchers were so pleased to have my help. The study is looking at the effects of sight and hearing loss on cognitive function as the brain ages.

I will now be involved in this research for many years to come and it is wonderful to know that my contribution is helping researchers to understand the curse of dementia, and hopefully even find a cure one day. Of course I wouldn’t be involved at all, had someone in the  GP surgery not put up the poster asking for volunteers.
 
Something that simple started a journey for me that is both enjoyable and rewarding, and I would encourage other health professional to promote medical research to patients, so that they too can share the benefits. There is a shortage of volunteers, both healthy and unwell, and it is probably not because people don’t want to participate, but because they just don’t know the research is even happening.
 
As health professionals you could do so much to encourage participation in studies and make your own contribution to the future health of the nation. We are all encouraged to volunteer in some way, and this is something that almost everyone can do - but only if they are informed by people like you, and guided at the start of their journey.
 
I would be thrilled if you would have a look at Join Dementia Research and the wealth of other support services offered by NIHR and see what you could do to encourage your patients to take part.
 
 
The NIHR has launched its new campaign, Your Path in Research, in October 2019. The campaign aims to inspire health care professionals to get more involved in research.