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Date: 07.01.2009
From: Kirsty Hardle

Subject: Research Participants needed - Emotions and Pain Management

Fibromyalgia, Chronic Pain and Emotional Schema


Dear Prospective Participant,

My name is Kirsty Hardle and I am a postgraduate student at the University of Wolverhampton. I am currently studying for an MSc in Counselling Psychology and as part of the course I am required to undertake a year long research project with the aim of building upon current knowledge within a chosen subject area.

Having worked within Physical Health Psychology for the past year I have taken a keen interest in Fibromyalgia, chronic pain (including forms of arthritis)and pain management and have chosen to investigate the role that emotions play in the management of pain.

If you would like to make a contribution to this research project, or would like to know more before making a decision, additional information is provided below and you will find my contact details at the end of this information sheet, should any questions arise. A link is pasted at the end of this information sheet which will take you to the research questionnaire.

Thanks for taking the time to have a look!


Nature and Purpose of the Study

An extensive amount of literature indicates that there is a significant link between pain and emotion (Keefe & Sharpe, 2006) and certain emotion regulation strategies are linked to an increase in pain perception (Geisser, et al, 2003; Montoya et al, 2005; Staud, et al, 2003).

Previous research has compared emotion regulation strategies and coping styles of people with Fibromyalgia, Osteoarthritis or Rheumatoid Arthritis and healthy people and have found differences between the groups (Davis, Zautra & Reich, 2001).

The aim of the project is to investigate possible underlying mechanisms for these proposed differences. One possible explanation is that within each group, different emotional schemas are operating. Schemas are proposed memory structures relating to different experiences that we have had over the course of our lifetime and are said to hold all of the relevant, acquired information for a particular topic. One personās experience may be very different to another personās, thus different schemas will operate.

By uncovering underlying differences in these schemas, it will provide great insight into the management of chronic pain conditions, including the use of psychological interventions.


Anonymity and Confidentiality

Should you chose to participate in this study, you will remain completely ANONYMOUS. Being anonymous means that the information you provide can in no way be traced back to you. Your anonymity is of the utmost importance to me.

How Anonymity is maintained:

You do not have to provide any details which may identify you to me or to a third party, such as name, date of birth or address.

Although the web survey host does monitor the address of your computer to ensure that only one questionnaire is received per person, The web survey host will never pass on this information to a third party and will destroy this information after the study has been completed.

Should publication arise from this study, you will in no way be personally identified.


How Confidentiality is maintained:

The web survey host provides the use of a secure server. The secure server software (SSL) encrypts all information you input before it is transmitted to the database. Furthermore, the entire customer data collected is protected against unauthorized access.

All the information that is collected about you during the study will be kept strictly confidential and will conform to the Data Protection Act of 1998 with respect to data collection, storage and destruction. Once your completed questionnaires have been received the data will be printed and kept within a locked filing cabinet. The stored data will then be entered onto a password protected computer database, ready for statistical analysis. In the unlikely event of a breach of confidentiality, all data remains anonymous.


Participation is Voluntary

You may or may not want to take part in this research project - this is your choice. Once you have submitted your responses, it will not be possible to remove them due to the anonymous nature of the data.

Guidance for Completing the Questionnaires

If you have any form of arthritis, please select the option for 'Chronic Pain.'

Please only complete the study if you are female and between the ages of 18 and 65.

It is envisaged that each questionnaire (informed consent sheet, participant demographic questionnaire and the emotional schema questionnaire) should take no more than 5 minutes each to read and complete. Therefore the study should take around 15 minutes in total.

If you are unsure about the answer to a question please make an educated guess. In the unlikely event that you are offended by any of the questions you do not have to provide an answer.

Study Results

It is anticipated that results from the study will be available in approximately one year.

Once data has been analysed I will post a new topic in online forum detailing findings of the project. I will also provide an e-mail address through which you can contact me should you have any further queries. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to provide feedback on an individual basis.

Consent

You will see this information sheet again once you have clicked on the link to the survey page. This helps to ensure that participants do not miss the information required to make an informed decision about participation. Once you have clicked on the box at the end of the page to provide your consent you will be taken to the survey page.

Thank you for taking the time to participate in this study. Your contribution is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, please e-mail using this form or alternatively reply to the post in the forum. I will endeavour to respond to questions within one working day.

Click Here to take survey
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Date: 13.01.2009
From: Kirsty Hardle

Subject: Re: Research Participants needed - Emotions and Pain Management

Happy New Year to all. I just want to say a big thank you to the people who have taken the survey - your input is extremely valuable to me and I can appreciate how difficult it is for some of you who are constantly coping with pain. However, I do need many more participants so if you haven't taken the survey yet, please have a look. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Many thanks!
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Date: 22.01.2009
From: Kirsty Hardle

Subject: Re: Research Participants needed - Emotions and Pain Management

Please keep participating! many more responses needed. Thank you in advance.
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Date: 25.03.2009
From: Kirsty

Subject: Re: Research Participants needed - Emotions and Pain Management

A big thank you to all who have taken the survey. many more people still needed.

If you need to take a break mid-survey, you can exit the survey and go back into it later, as long as you don't switch off your computer.

Thanks again!!
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Date: 15.04.2009
From: Kirsty

Subject: Re: Research Participants needed - Emotions and Pain Management

A big thank you to all who have taken the survey. many more people still needed.

If you need to take a break mid-survey, you can exit the survey and go back into it later, as long as you don't switch off your computer.

Thanks again!!
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