All of us grow old: probably most of us will need to be cared for by others before the end of our lives. But the expectations many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have of how they would be cared for if they were to enter sheltered housing or other forms of residential care, can be very different from the expectations of people who are heterosexual and/or cisgendered.

A recently-published survey done by YouGov on behalf of Stonewall, showed that older lesbian, gay and bisexual people are more likely to live alone and to experience loneliness. The Observer yesterday called this a "groundbreaking" report, the first of its kind, which "has implications for GPs, health and social services at a time when Britain's population is ageing. It is estimated that there are a million lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Britain over the age of 55."

Alexander (Sandy) McLean, a doctoral student from the School of Nursing Midwifery and Social Care at Napier University, is undertaking research for his thesis on the expectations of future holistic healthcare of older gay men and lesbian women and to contrast this with the views of professional health care staff in terms of what they believe they have to offer this group.

Sandy says: "I am looking for volunteers to participate in the research. The criteria to be included in the study are that you are either a Gay man or a Lesbian woman and aged 65 or older. The findings of the project will be useful because it will help create a greater understanding of the holistic care needs, that is, the care of physical, emotional, social, psychological, and spiritual needs, of older Gay men and Lesbian women."

You can contact Alexander McLean via 99062259@napier.ac.uk, Telephone 0131 455 5632 / 07747 300371, Doctoral Student, School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Social Care, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University, Sighthill Campus, Sighthill Court, Edinburgh, EH11 4BN.

The decision to restrict the research to lesbian women and gay men and not to include older bisexual people or older trans people was made on the grounds of the researcher's time and the need to focus: the research argued that research into the experience of trans people with proper thoroughness would require a independent thesis, and the inclusion of bisexual people would have expanded the field of research beyond the researcher's capacity.

If you agree to participate in the study, you will be asked to attend a focus group session, that is, a small group of informed people addressing research questions and it is a form of 'group interview'. You will also be asked to attend a one to one interview at a later date, when the issues raised at the focus group will be discussed in greater detail. The whole procedure should take no longer than two hours: this includes the focus group session and the one to one interview. You will be free to withdraw from the study at any stage and you would not have to give a reason.

All focus group sessions and one to one interviews will be recorded on a recording device. There will be other participants in the focus group session, therefore the focus group session cannot be completely anonymous and private.

All data will be kept confidential and anonymous in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Your name will be replaced with a pseudonym, and it will not be possible for you to be identified in any reporting of the data gathered. All data collected will be kept in a secure place which means it will be stored on a PC that is password-protected to which only the researcher and his supervisors will have access. These will be kept until the end of the examination process, following which all data will be destroyed.

The results may be published in a journal or presented to a conference but identity will remain anonymous.

If you would like to contact an independent person, who knows about this project but is not involved in it, you are welcome to contact Doctor Barbara Neades: Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Social Care, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University, Sighthill Campus, Sighthill Court, Edinburgh, EH11 4BN, b.neades@napier.ac.uk, Tel: 01506 523964.

Supervisor
Doctor Gerri Matthews-Smith, Senior Lecturer Subject Group Leader
Enduring Conditions and Community Care
School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Social Care
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Edinburgh Napier University
Sighthill Campus, Sighthill Court
Edinburgh, EH11 4BN
Email: g.matthews-smith@napier.ac.uk
Tel: 0131 455 5615