Participant information sheet
My name is Naima Hadjazi; I am a PhD student in Health Psychology. My PhD research project focuses on the manner in which mothers across cultures who gave birth within the past twelve months describe their perceptions and memories of labour pain to others.
What is the purpose of the study? This study aims to address some of the crosscultural beliefs and values influencing the pain perception and communication within childbirth in a large population. Further, it attempts to develop a checklist of pain-related terms and expressions that are appropriate to crosscultural differences. In this study I will be developing an online survey for mothers from different cultures who had a baby in the past 12 months.
Why have I been invited? You are invited if you meet the following criteria: You are a mother, aged between 18-45 years old, who gave birth in the previous 12 months by vaginal delivery, without epidural or pethidine. There are no cultural restrictions; however, you should be able to communicate accurately in English in order to express your experience of labour pain in writing.
You will not be able to participate if you have a previous history of chronic pain or physical trauma, or if you had a stillbirth or a baby who died after labour.
What will happen to me if I don’t take part? There will be no consequences to you if you don’t wish to take part. You do not need to explain why you do not wish to participate.
What will I have to do? You will be required to describe in detail your own experiences of childbirth in free text areas and submit them online.
What will happen if I don’t want to carry on with the study? You will be free to cancel, reschedule or even terminate your commitment at any time without having to justify your decision.
What will happen to the results of this study? All of your information will be kept completely anonymous, secure and confidential. At the analysis stage, you will be given a code number or fictitious name and all personal information that might identify you will be dealt with in the most sensitive and protected manner, so that no one else except me will be able to recognize the information or the source of your data. All of your information will be stored in a strictly secure system. My supervisor might be allowed to access data for this current study only; however, having ownership of the project, I will be the only person with full access to the files.
If you share an experience of bad medical practice e.g. of abuse, neglect, racism or incompetence, I will listen to your concerns in a very sensitive and supportive manner. If you wish to take the matter further, then I will negotiate with you the most appropriate way to disclose this information to any relevant agencies. I have provided you with a list of contact details for useful organisations such as National Childbirth Trust; a list of useful websites where you can seek expert advice or share your experiences with others of similar interests.
Who is organising this research? My supervisor, Professor Jane Ogden, in the Department of Psychology at the University of Surrey, is organising this research with me. She can be reached by email at J.Ogden@surrey.ac.uk or by phone at 01483.68.6929.
Who has approved this research? This research has been reviewed by and received a favourable ethical opinion from the University Ethics Committee at the University of Surrey.
If you are interested in taking part, or would like to nominate or forward this message to anyone who may wish to participate, you are more than welcome to do so. For further queries, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at: N.Hadjazi@surrey.ac.uk
Thank you very much for spending some of your precious time to read this information. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Naima Hadjazi
Supervisor: Professor Jane Ogden J.Ogden@surrey.ac.uk