Reader Volunteers FAQs

What experience do I need?

You do not need to have any specialist training or knowledge to be a Reader Volunteer. We only ask that you have experience of Crohn's or Colitis. This might be because you have the condition yourself, or someone close to you is living with Crohn's or Colitis. 

How often will I be contacted?

We expect to contact you for roughly one to three projects a year.  

We have a big pool of over 250 Reader Volunteers. We do our best to try and give everyone the opportunity to get involved, however we only send out ten to fifteen requests per resource. We try to allocate opportunities fairly, by looking at Readers who were contacted least recently. For some resources we need Readers who have a particular experience (for example have taken a certain medicine). Answering our surveys about your interests and experiences can help increase your chances of being asked to review these kinds of resources. These surveys are sent out in our newsletter emailed every year in January and June. If you missed the survey, you can fill it out here. 

What should I be thinking about when I provide feedback?

Our Reader Comment form helps guide you in the kind of feedback we are particularly interested in receiving. We always welcome any other comments, so don’t think it’s not relevant just because we haven’t asked about it! 

Should I correct any grammatical errors?

Being a Reader Volunteer isn't a writing, editing, or proofing role, so we don’t expect you to be looking for any grammar issues. However, if you find something, please let us know. 

How much feedback should I provide?

We understand that life can be busy and that our Reader Volunteers balance reviewing our information with everything else they have going on. For this reason, we don’t request a particular level of detail when providing feedback. For our team, though, there is no such thing as too much feedback. If you have the time and want to provide very detailed feedback, we’re always happy to receive it. 

If you find that you feel the resource is good just as it is, it’s useful for us to know why. We’re always happy to hear that our Readers don’t think any changes should be made. But it’s beneficial for us to understand what we're doing well. This helps us think about these things when writing other resources. 

Why do I need to complete a conflict-of-interest declaration?

As a trusted source of information for people with Crohn’s and Colitis we need our resources to be unbiased. This includes considering whether any feedback we receive from our Reader Volunteers may be biased. To ensure this we ask that all our Readers complete a conflict-of-interest declaration. Initially we only asked for this at the point of sign up. However, we are now collecting declarations annually. The form is very brief and should take no longer than 30 seconds to complete. Unfortunately, we cannot use your feedback unless we have a valid conflict-of-interest declaration. 

If you have a conflict-of-interest we may still be able to use your feedback, but it may be that we only send you certain resources. For example, if you work for a drug company, we won’t send you resources on medicines but could still send you all other resources. 

How long will I be a volunteer for?

There is no end date to the Reader Volunteer role. However, as part of our support for our volunteers, we may check-in to make sure you still wish to be involved. If we notice you haven’t responded to three or more feedback requests, we will get in touch to see if you’d like to remain a volunteer. 

How do I step down from the role?

We know that situations and circumstances change. If you no longer wish to be a Reader Volunteer please let us know by filling out this form. You can also email evidence@crohnsandcolitis.org.uk asking to be stepped down. 

I haven’t been contacted with any Reader Volunteer opportunities yet, is there anything I can do in the meantime?

Use our feedback forms. On each of our information pages we have a pop-up that appears around 1 minute after landing on the page. This pop-up gives you the chance to tell us if the information was useful, and a free text box where you can provide feedback. This feedback is reviewed by our Editors when they update a resource. On each of our pages there is also a big green tile with the title ‘help us improve our information’. This links you to a survey where you can provide more general feedback on our information portfolio. 

Keep an eye out on social media. Sometimes we send out surveys via social media. Even if you haven’t been selected as a Reader Volunteer who will review the complete publication, these surveys provide the opportunity to let us know what you think about an upcoming resource.  

Contact us. If there’s any feedback you wish to share on a particular publication, you can always contact us at evidence@crohnsandcolitis.org.uk 

There are lots of other ways you can help support Crohn’s & Colitis UK. Our volunteering, fundraising and campaigns pages all have opportunities to get involved. You can also sign up to our newsletter to be kept up to date with the work we are doing. 

Who do I contact if I have any questions?

If you have any questions, you can either contact the Knowledge and Information Editor who has emailed you, or email evidence@crohnsandcolitis.org.uk. The Evidence inbox is checked by a member of our team Monday to Friday and someone will provide a response within three working days.