PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING:

Informed Consent
Meditation and Life Events

Principal Investigator: Dr. Clara Cheng

Purpose and Procedure: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between mindfulness meditation, life events and stress symptoms. You will be asked to complete two online surveys six months apart; each survey should take about half an hour. You will have the opportunity to register for two $100 lotteries, one at the completion of each survey; the odds of winning each lottery is about 1 out of 400. The first drawing is anticipated to occur within one year of project commencement and the second within eighteen months. The winner will be notified by email or telephone.

Confidentiality: Any data that you provide will be used for research purposes only. Only the researchers involved in this project will have access to the information you provide, which is stored in password-protected Internet server files and password-protected computers in locked facilities. Your name will never be associated with your responses.

Potential Risks and Voluntary Participation: Potential risks associated with participation in this study are considered to be minimal. You may abstain from answering any question or completing any task that may cause discomfort, and should you wish to cease participation for any reason, you may do so at any time without penalty; your registration into the lottery does not depend upon your completion of the surveys in whole or in part. In other words, your participation in this study is completely voluntary. The principal investigator and project researcher are available to answer any questions you may have about this research project (please see contact information on the next pages).

Potential Benefits: Participants can gain useful insight into the research process by participating in this study. Afterwards, a debriefing session will explain the rationale and hypothesis for this study, as well as its contribution to the scientific study of human behavior and mental processes in more detail.

Problems: If you have questions or concerns about the study, you may contact the experimenters at the contacts below, or you may direct your concerns to the Human Subjects Committee at the Psychology Department at American University or to the university’s Institutional Review Board. Members of the Department’s committee and their contact information are listed below.