Recently I had the pleasure to do an interview with Dennis from www.UCVlog.com for his dissertation.  He is doing a research study on how the online inflammatory bowel disease community is created and maintained and how viewers and readers use these websites.  It was very interesting to talk to another guy with IBD and hear some of his views also.  As part of the interview, he asked me to share his request and ask people to fill out a survey for him.  Here is his request:

“Hello everybody!

 I am a graduate student at the University of Florida and also somebody with ulcerative colitis. I maintain the United Colon Vlog (http://UCVlog.com), which you may be familiar with.

 For my dissertation, I’m conducting a research study on how the online inflammatory bowel disease community is created and maintained and how viewers and readers like you use these websites. I’m looking for people 18 or older to complete a short survey about your activity in the online community.

 As long as you have Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis you are eligible to participate; it doesn’t matter how long you’ve had IBD or how bad your disease is. If your IBD is indeterminate, or you are still going through diagnostic tests, you can still participate! And whether or not you’ve had surgery, you are still eligible.

 The survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes. Please click the link below to access the survey. Thanks for your invaluable help!

 https://ufl.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_cAqPW1khdSsFuC1

 If you have any questions at all, please let me know.

 Sincerely,

Dennis Frohlich

University of Florida

dennis.frohlich@ufl.edu”

If you haven’t checked out his site yet, please go look at it.  He runs the site with Nadia who I have also talked with online and she is a wonderful person also.  The two of them do some great work together. 

I stumbled upon UCVlog early on in my research about IBD.  When I first starting heading down the “advocacy” road, UCVlog was one of the first sites I found.  I found their openness to the diseases refreshing and empowering.  Dennis was also one of the first guys I saw advocating for IBD and this became a big inspiration for me to jump in and start advocating.  As I have been saying for 2 years now…we need more guys to speak up.

Thank you Dennis for letting me be part of your research.  With so much bad news about this disease going around lately (way too many deaths), it was nice to talk to someone who is inspiring and helped renew my faith that we can educate and one day maybe find a cure.