1. Survey Consent
Dear Participant:
I am a researcher at the University of Georgia, School of Social Work. I invite you to participate in a research study exploring the effect of online communication and social support on positive emotion and health outcomes in individuals treated with ileoanal reservoir surgery. The goal of this research is to understand how online communication through internet resources such as jpouch.net and jpouch.org can have positive psychological benefits for the individuals who utilize them.
Specifically, I seek to understand:
Whether total time spent online at jpouch.net predicts improvements in health outcomes;
Whether measures of commitment to jpouch.net use predict improvements in health outcomes;
Whether measures of intensity jpouch.net use predict improvements in health outcomes.
This study has been approved by the UGA Institutional Review Board. In order to participate in this study, you must be 18 years of age or older. Your participation in this electronic survey will involve answering a set of 90 questions and should only take about 25 minutes to complete. The survey consists of three parts: 29 general questions about you and your health; 41 questions about social support, well-being and your participation in the online community at jpouch.net; and 20 statements for which you will indicate your level of agreement related to frequency or duration, in the past week, of which you have experienced certain feelings or situations.
Your involvement in the study is voluntary, and you may choose not to participate or to stop at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. Sharing personal medical information has the potential to produce some emotional discomfort; therefore should you feel uncomfortable you may discontinue participation in the survey at any time. There is a limit to the confidentiality that can be guaranteed due to Internet technology itself. However, once the survey results are received via Internet communication, standard confidentiality procedures will be employed. The researchers will remove any identifying information from the data (e.g., name, e-mail address, IP address, etc.) prior to analysis and will strictly maintain participants’ privacy. The results of the research study may be published, but your name will not be used. Your identity AS a jpouch.net user will not be associated with your responses to this survey in any published format.
By participating in this survey you can expect to contribute to the body of research related to your personal experiences and the experiences of others who are considering ileoanal reservoir surgery. The results of this survey and the associated research could potentially reveal the benefit of online communication in improving mental health and providing social support while undergoing medical treatment.
If you have any questions about this research project, or if for some reason you need to submit a written response to the survey, please feel free to Marguerite Fenwood at mfenwood@uga.edu. Questions or concerns about your rights as a research participant should be directed to The Chairperson, University of Georgia Institutional Review Board, 612 Boyd GSRC, Athens, Georgia 306b.-7411; telephone (706) 542-3199; email address irb@uga.edu.
If you are 18 years of age or older, understand the statements above, and freely consent to participate in the study, click on the “I agree” button to begin the survey.