PARTICIPANT INFORMATION
STUDENT RESEARCH PROJECT ETHICS REVIEW
Division of Psychiatry & Applied Psychology
Project Title: Change in perception in mental health workers towards aggression during the working years with a patient with learning disabilities/challenging behaviour
Researcher/Student: Olivera Pasic
Supervisor/Chief Investigator: Nigel Hunt
Ethics Reference Number: 346
We would like to invite you to take part in a research study about a change in perception in mental health workers towards aggression comparing working years with the patients with challenging behavior and perception of the aggression. Before you begin, we would like you to understand why the research is being done and what it involves for you.
What is the purpose of this study?
The study is undertaken in partial fulfilment of MSc Work and Organisational Psychology degree at the University of Nottingham and tries to examine change in perception in mental health workers towards aggression comparing working years with the patients with challenging behaviour and perception of the aggression.
Why have I been invited?
You have been invited because you are working in the division of the mental health workers/support workers and your responses are beneficial to our understanding of how aggression is perceived by mental health workers over time.
Therefore, considering the implications at the individual level, the perception by professionals can be beneficial to understand the impact of the working years and experience in this profession.
Do I have to take part?
It is up to you to decide whether or not to take part. If you do decide to take part you will be given this information sheet to keep and be asked to complete and submit a questionnaires. By completing the questionnaires and submit them you indicate that you are happy to take part. You may change your mind about being involved at any time, or decline to answer a particular question. Your participation is voluntary and you are free to withdraw at any time. Non-participation or withdrawal from the study will not have an effects on your employment or relationship with the line manager. However, once you have completed and submitted an anonymous questionnaires it is not possible to withdraw the data because we won’t know who you are.
What will I be asked to do?
If you choose to take part, you will be asked to complete two questionnaires by Online Survey. We will send you an email inviting you to complete the questionnaires, which can be completed and returned online using the link which will be included in the email. Questionnaires are short and can be finished in 10-15 minutes of your free time. All questionnaires as anonymous. By completing the questionnaires you indicate that you are happy to take part.
Will the research be of any personal benefit to me?
We cannot promise the study will help you, but the information we get from this study may help us to understand more about the perception of the aggression at work place in a mental care institutions, and how the age of the experience can influence. We hope that you will enjoy doing the questionnaires. Your contribution will help others to understand the risk of this profession. The study, therefore, has the potential to improve the education and training of workers in care and the quality of care provided to people using health and social care services.
Are there any possible disadvantages or risks in taking part?
There are no risks to taking part of this research. Participants will be asked to consider aggression in the work place and may wish to discuss their thoughts afterwards with some professionals. They can contact the researcher and supervisor on this matter or any other issues if they have about research and participation.
What will happen to the information I provide?
Online questionnaires will be distributed by using free Online Surveys through the organisation’s email system. IP addresses of participants will be separated from questionnaire scores to protect anonymity. All data will be accessed, stored and destroyed strictly under data protection regulations. The participant information sheet will be attached to ensure participants to be fully informed in this respect, while participant consent form will be attached to ask participants to confirm their understanding and agreement. Your participation is voluntary and you are free to withdraw at any time. However, once you have completed and submitted an anonymous questionnaire it is not possible to withdraw the data because we won’t know who you are. Procedures for handling, processing, storage and destruction of study data meet the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998.
When the study is completed, we will disseminate the summary of the research to the organisation.
We will follow ethical and legal practice and all information will be handled in confidence.
Under UK Data Protection laws the University is the Data Controller (legally responsible for the data security) and the Chief Investigator of this study (named above) is the Data Custodian (manages access to the data). This means we are responsible for looking after your information and using it properly. Your rights to access, change or move your information are limited as we need to manage your information in specific ways to comply with certain laws and for the research to be reliable and accurate. To safeguard your rights, we will use the minimum personally – identifiable information possible.
You can find out more about how we use your information and to read our privacy notice at:
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/utilities/privacy.aspx.
The data collected for the study will be looked at and stored by authorised persons from the University of Nottingham who are organising the research. They may also be looked at by authorised people from regulatory organisations to check that the study is being carried out correctly. All will have a duty of confidentiality to you as a research participant and we will do our best to meet this duty.
At the end of the project, all raw data will be kept securely by the University under the terms of its data protection policy after which it will be disposed of securely. The data will not be kept elsewhere.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to ask. We can be contacted before and after your participation at the email addresses above.
What if there is a problem?
If you have any queries or complaints, please contact the student’s supervisor/chief investigator in the first instance. If this does not resolve your query, please write to the Administrator to the Division of Psychiatry & Applied Psychology’s Research Ethics Sub-Committee adrian.pantry1@nottingam.ac.uk who will pass your query to the Chair of the Committee.
We believe there are no known risks associated with this research study; however, as with any online activity the risk of a breach is always possible. We will do everything possible to ensure your answers in this study will remain anonymous.
