| Focus Group For the Haitian Nurses | |
| Live Chat | Videos |
| Survey I: For Haitian Women | |
| Survey II: For HIV Positive Haitian Women Only | |
Teachers College, Columbia University
New York, New York
INFORMED CONSENT
EXPLORING THE RISK OF HIV/AIDS AND SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS, KNOWLEDGE OF DISEASE TRANSMISSION, PARENTAL INFLUENCE, AND CULTURAL STIGMA FOR YOUNG HAITIAN WOMEN VIA INTERNET-BASED FOCUS GROUPS
DESCRIPTION OF THE RESEARCH
You are being invited to participate in a research study to The study is being conducted through the Department of Health and Behavior Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City as part of the requirements for the fulfillment of a doctoral degree. You will be asked to: complete a survey, asking questions about your background and family history. You will also be asked to complete an exercise that ask you to list some of the types of sexual relationships that young women generally engage in with older men and the use of condom in those relationships. In addition, you will be asked to join other women in group discussions about sexual behaviors, gender role beliefs surrounding women and men in relationships and the types of relationships that younger women have with older men and other partners and how these things influence whether they use condom. This will be followed by a one-one interview with me, the principal investigator of this study, to explore some of the issues that came up during the group discussions further. The information that you provide will be kept confidential. This means that you will not be required to provide your real or actual name for the study. To that end, if you consent to participate in the study you will be asked to make up a fake name that you can use during the activities.
RISKS
This researcher perceives no risks to you from participating in this study. However, one potential, but unlikely risk that could come up may be: you might feel uncomfortable talking about matters of sexual nature or your sexual behaviors. If you feel uncomfortable remember that your participation in the study is voluntary, you have the right to drop out of the study at any time. Also, please know that you can talk to me about asking my help to explore a referral to a trained counselor at the clinic or any other facility in the area or explore other services on your own without informing me. You will also have the opportunity to speak with this investigator in private at anytime during the study, should you have the need for a private, confidential meeting during the process. Again, your participation is voluntary and you have the right to drop out from the study at anytime.
BENEFITS
There are a few direct and indirect benefits associated with you participating in the study. First, you might gain some helpful insight about some of the factors that expose young women such as yourself to HIV/AIDS. Second, it may be beneficial to you to have the opportunity to have a group forum with other young women where some of the social issues, culture place women at risk and what they can do to change some behaviors. This is why I also plan to offer training to the Haitian community in the United States and in Haiti that may help you to change some behaviors that may put you at risk for HIV.Payment: Finally, you will also receive a small stipend of $20.00 gift certificate to the local mall in appreciation for you taking time away from your daily activities/work to volunteer in the current study.
DATA STORAGE TO PROTECT CONFIDENTIALITY:
Subjects will be identified only by e-mail addresses. Since this is an online survey, actual names, addresses and phone numbers are not needed, and only aggregate data will be utilized. The designers of the website have taken steps to ensure that all data will remain secure, private and confidential.
TIME INVOLVEMENT
Your participation in this study requires about 60-120 minutes via the internet for the data collection activities and about a week for the training. You will spend 1 hour to complete the focus group.
HOW WILL RESULTS BE USED
Study results will be used for this investigator’s doctoral dissertation (to obtain a Doctor of Education degree) at Teachers College Columbia University in New York, USA. The information will also be shared with other public health educators at conferences. It may also be published in a journal or in magazines. The purpose for potentially sharing the results in this manner is to help provide more information about, and to develop targeted public health education services that are needed by Haitian women both in the United States and in Haiti.
Thanks for your participation!
Chimene Castor
(Ed.D. Candidate, Teachers College, Columbia University)
CCastor214@aol.com