Dear fellow Student:
This is a research project being conducted by Dr. Ellen Fabian and Roxanna Pebdani (student) at the University of Maryland, College Park. We are inviting you to participate in this research project because you are a student in rehabilitation counseling. The purpose of this research project is to explore the relationship between rehabilitation counseling student attitudes and comfort towards sexuality in people with disabilities.
The survey should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete and includes questions on the topic of sexuality. Some sample questions include questions on your knowledge of sexuality (for example knowledge of sexual positioning, contraception, communication in relationships), comfort with sexuality (for example your comfort with walking into a room and finding a client masturbating, communicating on the topic of sexuality with clients (client asks: “Do you think anyone will ever go out with me.” Or “I’ve never had sex before- what will it be like?”). There will also be questions on your attitudes towards sexuality in people with disabilities (for example: “people with spinal cord injury shouldn’t worry about sex because they can’t feel it anyway”).
You will have the opportunity to be entered into a participant lottery, for which you have a chance to win one of 10 ten dollar Amazon.com gift cards. To be included in the lottery, you will be asked to send an e-mail to a specified e-mail address once you have completed the survey. By sending an e-mail and not having you enter your information on the Survey Gizmo, we can ensure that your survey will not be connected to your participant information. The lottery will be conducted on March 1, 2010.
If we write a report or article about this research project, your identity will be protected to the maximum extent possible. Your information may be shared with representatives of the University of Maryland, College Park or governmental authorities if you or someone else is in danger or if we are required to do so by law.
There are no known risks associated with participating in this research project.
This research is not designed to help you personally, but the results may help the investigator learn more about rehabilitation counseling student’s comfort with sexuality. We hope that, in the future, other people might benefit from this study through improved understanding of rehabilitation counselor’s comfort with sexuality.
Your participation in this research is completely voluntary and you may stop participating at any time, without penalty.
This research is being conducted by Dr. Ellen Fabian at the University of Maryland, College Park. If you have any questions about the research study itself, please contact Dr. Ellen Fabian at: 3214 Benjamin Building, College Park, MD 20742, phone number (301) 405-2872, e-mail efabian@umd.edu.
If you have questions about your rights as a research subject or wish to report a research-related injury, please contact: Institutional Review Board Office, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742; (e-mail) irb@deans.umd.edu; (telephone) 301-405-0678.
This research has been reviewed according to the University of Maryland, College Park IRB procedures for research involving human subjects.
Checking yes in the box below indicates that:
you are at least 18 years of age;,
the research has been explained to you;
your questions have been fully answered; and
you freely and voluntarily choose to participate in this research
Thank you.