Informed Consent
You are being asked to participate in a research study on emotional disclosure as it applies to having a child with autism. Your participation is voluntary. The purpose of the study is to examine the impact the level of emotion included in writing has on psychological well-being.
If you agree, you will be asked to journal about an assigned topic for 3 days, 20 minutes a day, as well as fill out pre and post-test measures, which will take about 20 minutes each. Furthermore, you will be asked to complete a 3-week follow-up survey, which will take approximately 20 minutes. All information will be presented via an Internet survey, and links to daily questionnaires and writing assignments will be emailed to you from a private, secure email address.
The research data are entirely confidential, and your identity will in no way be revealed. All participants will be assigned an ID code through which they will be identified. The data will be analyzed as a group and no individual results will be utilized in this study.
Your signature below indicates that you have read and agree to these statements, and you hereby agree to participate in this study.
You are welcome to contact the Principal Investigator, listed below, in order to obtain a report of the results of this project subsequent to its completion.
Questions about this study should be addressed to:
Department of
Western Carolina
University
828.227.7361
WCU Institutional Review Board:
Dr. Chris Cooper, Chair (ccooper@email.wcu.edu)