The researchers are looking to investigate prevalence rates of adverse childhood experiences and their associated psychological effects. As a participant in this research, you will be asked to dedicate approximately 20-30 minutes of your time to complete several online questionnaires. The questionnaires will provide the research with information about your experience with adverse childhood experiences, risk-taking behaviours, and psychological symptoms.
Due to the sensitive topics in the questionnaires, participants may be at risk of experiencing discomfort or emotional distress due to certain questions. Should this occur, a list of supportive resources is provided on the consent form, the last page, and two “mental-health checkpoints” within the survey for assistance. If a question in the survey causes too much discomfort or distress, participants are welcome to refrain from responding to it, and either continue with the survey or withdraw participation.
Given this study asks some questions about illegal activities, this study is intentionally designed to protect participants’ anonymity and no personally identifiable information will be collected at any point. Participants are under no obligation to share information that they do not feel comfortable disclosing and may withdraw consent, alter answers, and skip questions at any time prior to pressing “submit” at the end of the survey. However, due to the anonymous nature of the data collection, withdrawing will not be possible after the survey is submitted. Additionally, if you are to exit the survey at any point it is possible for some of the data to be recorded. To ensure none of your responses are reported, navigate back to the consent form and select the ‘no’ option to exit the survey.
Your responses to this survey will be stored in SurveyMonkey’s database in the United States. Due to data being stored outside of Canada, the information will not be protected by Canadian privacy legislation. Further details can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/legal/privacy-policy/
All records will be kept strictly confidential. All data collected will be stored electronically on a secured drive at Vancouver Island University. Only the principal investigator and the research supervisors will have access. Consent forms and raw data collected for the purposes of this study will be kept on the locked drive for the duration of the project, and then deleted from both SurveyMonkey and the drive no later than five years after collection. This project’s aimed completion date is May 31st, 2024, but aggregated data may be kept for future research purposes.
If you have any concerns about your treatment as a research participant in this study, please contact the VIU Research Ethics Officer, by telephone at (250) 740-6631 or by email at reb@viu.ca.
If you wish to have a copy of this form for your records, please feel free to screenshot or print this page.
If you have any questions or concerns about the research at any time during your participation, please do not hesitate to contact the principal investigator or the research supervisor. Please see the resources below.