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Welcome to the survey. Below is the informed consent information regarding this survey. Please read through the entire informed consent and indicate if you agree to continue participating in the survey.
Informed Consent

Investigator(s): Jasmine Tall (Primary Investigator), Elana Maurin, PhD (Dissertation Chair)

Study Title: The Influence of Perceived Stigma on the Relationship Between Perceived Social Support and Mental Health Among Adults with Multiple Sclerosis

I am a student at The Chicago School. This study is being conducted as a part of my dissertation requirement for the Clinical Psychology (PsyD) degree.

I am asking you to participate in a research study about the effect of perceived stigma and social support on mental health among adults with multiple sclerosis (MS). You will be asked to complete a survey about your experiences with MS, including stigma, social support, and mental health. This survey will take approximately 30-45 minutes to complete. This may cause some risk of psychological discomfort, as you will be surveyed on your lived experiences with sensitive topics related to living with MS (i.e., stigma, mental health); however, it is estimated that this risk will be minimal. You will have the option to discontinue your participation in the survey, should you feel uncomfortable at any point. Although you may not benefit, it will help to understand the effects of stigma and social support on mental health among individuals with MS.

Please take your time to read the entire document and feel free to ask any questions before signing this document.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between perceived social support, perceived stigma, and mental health outcomes among adults with MS. Although previous studies have explored these concepts among the adult MS patient population, research has not yet explored how these three specific variables influence each other. This study also aims to provide helpful information for clinicians, patients, and caregivers supporting individuals with MS.

Procedures: The survey will include three major sections. The first section of the survey will provide you with an informed consent statement. This will include information about the study. This section will also notify you that you can leave the study at any time for any reason. The next section will include demographic questions about you. The third section of the survey will include instruments measuring the variables of interest. Following completion of this portion of the survey, you will view a close out/debrief page. To incentivize participation, you will be given the option to be entered in a raffle to receive one of four $10 Amazon gift cards. You will be directed to a separate webpage to enter your email address. Entering into this raffle will be completely voluntary, and your email address will not be connected with the information you entered.

Compensation: You will be given the option to be entered in a raffle to receive one of four $10 Amazon gift cards upon completion of the survey. Once you reach the end of the survey, a link to a separate website will appear. Upon clicking this link, you can enter your email address to be entered into the Amazon gift card raffle. To preserve your confidentiality, responses to the raffle entry will be kept separately from survey responses. Four participants will be randomly selected to receive the Amazon gift card using a random generator. If you are randomly selected to receive the gift card, you will be contacted via email by the principal investigator.
Risks to You: This study presents minimal risk of harm to participants. Although we have attempted to minimize as much risk as possible, we acknowledge that some risk of emotional discomfort is possible while taking this survey. One possible risk is that you may experience some emotional discomfort while answering sensitive questions about your lived experiences with sensitive topics related to living with MS (e.g., stigma, mental health). Another possible risk is that the survey may include materials or questions that could be considered sensitive by some. As part of the survey, you will be asked about whether you have a medical diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), which is asked because this study is interested in understanding the experiences of adults diagnosed with MS. This presents a possible risk related to the systematic selection or exclusion of a specific group (age, identity, race/ethnicity, gender identity, etc.).

To minimize risk of emotional distress, a small number of questions asking about emotional distress are included. You will have the option to end your participation in the survey if you feel uncomfortable at any time.

To minimize risk of the impact of any questions that may be sensitive or invasive, you will not be required to provide any detailed personal information. This is done to maintain your privacy while responding to the survey.

To minimize ​risk associated with the systematic selection or exclusion of a specific group (i.e., individuals with MS), your data will only be reported in a general sense to protect your privacy.

Finally, to protect your privacy, all responses will be kept private. Additionally, only average numbers will be reported from this data No personally identifiable information will be collected, nor will IP addresses will be collected. Your individual responses to the survey will not be included in the final report.

Benefits to You: You will not benefit directly from this study. However, we hope the information learned from this study may benefit society in our understanding of how stigma influences the relationship between social support and mental health outcomes among adults with MS.

Alternatives to Participation: Participation in this study is voluntary. You may withdraw from study participation at any time without any penalty.
Confidentiality: During this study, information will be collected about you for the purpose of this research. This includes your responses to survey questions about your experiences with social support, stigma, and mental health. The principal investigator will not directly contact participants to request their participation in the study. You will not be asked to provide personally identifiable, private information. Additionally, IP addresses will not be collected.

This study will not be collecting any personally identifiable, private information from research participants. Data will be obtained via an online survey administered via SurveyMonkey (online survey account). Data will be stored on the principal investigator's password-protected computer and will be secured in a password-protected document. There will be no data transfers utilized in this study. All data will be downloaded to a secure, password protected Survey Monkey account. The principal investigator and her faculty advisor (Dissertation Chair) will have access to the data. Per APA guidelines, the data will be kept for a minimum of five years post-publication. After retaining the data for five years, data will be deleted from the primary investigator's personal computer. This study will not utilize signed consent forms. Rather, participants will indicate consent virtually by checking the box under the informed consent message on that portion of the survey.

It is possible that your data may be used for future research or distributed to another researcher without your consent. However, information that could identify you will be removed.

Your research records may be reviewed by federal agencies whose responsibility is to protect human subjects participating in research, including the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) and by representatives from The Chicago School Institutional Review Board, a committee that oversees research.

Questions/Concerns: If you have questions related to the procedures described in this document please contact Jasmine Tall, Primary Investigator (jtall@ego.thechicagoschool.edu) or Dr. Elana Maurin, Dissertation Chair (emaurin@thechicagoschool.edu).

If you have questions concerning your rights in this research study you may contact the Institutional Review Board (IRB), which is concerned with the protection of subjects in research projects. You may reach the IRB office Monday-Friday by calling 312.467.2335 or writing: Institutional Review Board, The Chicago School, 325 N. Wells, Chicago, Illinois, 60654.
Consent to Participate in Research
Participant: I have read the above information and have received satisfactory answers to my questions. I understand the research project and the procedures involved have been explained to me. I agree to participate in this study. My participation is voluntary and I do not have to sign this form if I do not want to be part of this research project. I will receive a copy of this consent form for my records.

Clicking below indicates that I have read the description of the study and I agree to participate in the study.

Question Title

* Clicking below indicates that I have read the description of the study and I agree to participate in the study.

 
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