Working Women, Retired Partners-R

* 1. STUDY OF WORKING WOMEN WITH RETIRED PARTNERS: You are invited to participate in a survey of working women with retired partners. You will be asked to complete rating scales and open ended questions about your relationship and home life before and after your partner's retirement. In addition you will be asked demographic information, questions about current mood, and questions about your general relationship style. This study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of Agnes Scott College.

CRITERIA: To participate you must be a woman who has been working for pay at least 30 hours a week for the past five years or longer and your retired partner, since retirement, must be working for pay less than 20 hours per week. Your partner must have retired voluntarily from a full-time job. You must also be currently living with this partner.

INFORMATION: You are requested to complete the survey which begins on the next screen. It should take approximately 45 minutes. I am especially interested in your open-ended responses (in your own words) to questions about your adjustment to your partner's retirement. You must complete the survey in ONE session. If you close the computer or log out it will not let you return (of course you can take a break as long as you leave the program open).

BENEFITS: You will receive $20 for your participation in this study, and contribute to the body of knowledge on working women with retired partners. When you have submitted your survey, send me an email with your mailing address and a check for $20 will be mailed to you.

RISKS: While there are no particular risks associated with completion of this survey, participants may experience distress when reflecting on difficulties they have noticed in themselves or in their relationship in association with their partner’s retirement.

CONFIDENTIALITY: Your survey answers will automatically be sent to a link at Survey Monkey.com where data will be stored. No names will be included. When you indicate you have completed the survey, the researcher will temporarily have access to your mailing address in order to mail you the payment but will not know which survey responses belong to any given individual. Thus, your responses will remain confidential.

Results from this project may be included in a professional article or book project on how working women adapt and adjust to their partner's retirement. However, no names or identifying information would ever be used in reports from this study.

At the end of the survey you will be asked if you are interested in participating in an additional interview, either on the phone or in-person. If you choose to be available for follow-up contact, your responses would not be confidential from the researcher. However, again no names or identifying information would be included in any publications based on these data.

CONTACT: If you have questions about the study or would like a summary of the results, you may contact Dr. Eileen Cooley in the Department of Psychology at Agnes Scott College, ecooley@agnesscott.edu.

PARTICIPATION: Your participation in this study is voluntary; you may refuse to participate without penalty. If you decide to participate, you may withdraw or discontinue from the study or leave specific questions blank at any time.

Remember, you must COMPLETE this survey in ONE SESSION. Once you close the survey, you cannot return to it.