Participant information Sheet (Staff)

Mechanisms of change in intensive group intervention for teenagers who stammer.

You are being invited to take part in this research project. Before you decide to do so, it is important you understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. Ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information. Take time to decide whether or not you wish to take part. Thank you for reading this. 

This research project aims to explore how taking part in the Talking Out Residential effects the way that participants feel about stammering.  

The project is being carried out by Ben Bolton-Grant. Ben is a speech and language therapist and a PHD student at Leeds Beckett University. This project is being carried out as part of Ben’s PHD. 

You have been asked to take because your you are part of the staff team delivering the Talking Out Residential in October. We are interested in your experiences and thoughts about this intervention. 

We are asking you to consider two things:

1. Ben will join the residential in October as an observer. He will make notes based on his observations of the group. No names or specific details will be recorded about participants. This does not involve you doing anything in addition to your normal role delivering the residential.
2. You will be invited to take part in an online one to one interview after the residential has finished. This will be arranged for a time to suit you.  The conversation will be recorded so that it can be analysed later. The recordings will be kept secure and not shown to anyone else.

No. 

It is up to you whether or not you take part in either or both elements of the research. 

Yes. 

You can change your mind and opt out of taking part in the research. You can do this up until 5 days after the interview has taken place. After this point your data will have been combined with other people’s data and it will not be possible to remove it from the analysis. 

Taking part in the interview will require you to give up some of your time. The interview will be arranged for a time to suit you. If, during or after the interview, you have any questions or concerns about working with young people who stammer Ben will support you with this and direct you to other sources of information if needed.  

Taking part in the research will help further our understanding of how the residential helps people to feel differently about stammering. This may lead to improvements to stammering therapy in future, which may support other young people who stammer.  

If you have any complaints about the project then you can talk to Ben in the first instnace. If you feel your complaint has not been handled to your satisfaction you can contact the Leeds Beckett University using the details below.  

Yes. 

All the information that we collect about you during the course of the research will be kept strictly confidential. This means that you will not be able to be identified or identifiable in any reports or publications. Any data collected about you the assessments, or recordings of the focus groups will be stored online protected by passwords and other relevant security processes and technologies. 

What you say in the interview will be kept private and won’t be shared with the any other members of staff. 

Data collected may be shared in an anonymised form to allow reuse by the research team and other third parties. No information about who you or where you work will be shared with anybody. 

The only time we will share information is if you share something that raises concerns about your or somebody else’s safety. We will talk to you if this happens. 

Yes.

If you take part in the interview this will be video recorded. This recording will be used by Ben to look back on and use what you say to help him understand what being part of the residential is like. The videos will be kept in a secure file online and protected by a password. Nobody else will be able to see them. The videos will be deleted once the research project has finished. 

1. Ben will join in with all the activities on the residential and online parent groups and make notes on what he notices happening. He won’t use your name in these notes, and if you have not volunteered for this part of the study he will not include any notes about you at all. 
2. In the interview at the end of the week Ben will ask questions about your thoughts and experiences of the residential and how you feel about the participants experiences on the residential. This information will help Ben to understand how going on the residential might help participants to feel differently about stammering.

Results of the research will be written up as a thesis which will be submitted in fulfilment of Ben’s PHD.  

The results from the research may also be published as an article in a research journal. You and your child will not be identified in any report or publication. 

The project is being organised and carried out by Ben Bolton-Grant. Ben is a speech and language therapist and a PHD student at Leeds Beckett University. This project will be written up and submitted as part of his PHD. The study is being supervised by Dr Sarah James and Dr Trish Holch from Leeds Beckett University. 

This design and plan for this project has received ethical approval from Leeds Beckett University.

If you have any questions of would like to discuss any of this information, or any elements of the project, please contact Ben in the first instance.

Ben Bolton-Grant, Speech and Language Sciences, Leeds School of Social Sciences, Leeds Beckett University;

Email: b.bolton-grant@leedsbeckett.ac.uk; Tel: 0113 8126241

or:

Sarah James, Director of Studies, Speech and Language Sciences, Leeds School of Social Sciences, Leeds Beckett University; 

Email:  s.james@leedsbeckett.ac.uk, Tel: 0113 8126823

Elizabeth Kijewski, Academic Services Manager, Leeds School of Social Sciences, Leeds Beckett University; 

Email: e.kijewski@leedsbeckett.ac.uk; Tel: 0113 8125288