Welcome. Healthtalkonline, an award-winning charity website, lets you share in other people's experiences of health and illness. This information is based on qualitative research into patient experiences led by experts at the University of Oxford.

Caring for someone with a terminal illness

Caring for a person with a terminal illness is not something that we choose to do but it is not something that can easily be avoided when it occurs in someone very close to you. We interviewed 40 people about their experiences of caring for someone with a terminal illness. Some were currently caring for a sick friend or relative; others had been bereaved.

Carers of people with dementia

Dementia can cause memory loss, confusion and speech problems. We interviewed 31 people about their experiences of caring for a person with dementia.

Mental health: ethnic minority carers’ experiences 

We interviewed 32 carers from different minority ethnic communities about their experiences of caring for someone in their family with a mental health problem. Six of these carers didn’t want to have their story on the internet.

Interviews in other languages: Bengali (Interview 7); Chinese (Interview 28, 29, 31); Gujurati (Interview 26, 27); Punjabi (Interview 23). See ‘People's stories’ section for these numbered interviews.

Parents of children on the autism spectrum

We interviewed 45 parents of children on the autism spectrum. The interviews include experiences across the life course as some parents had pre-school age children who had recently been diagnosed, while other parents talked about their adult children.

Parents of children with congenital heart disease

Congenital heart disease includes a range of conditions affecting the heart from birth. In partnership with the British Heart Foundation we interviewed the parents of 30 children with congenital heart disease about their experiences during their child's early years.