Informed Consent

PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY. CLICK TO CONTINUE BELOW ONLY IF YOU AGREE TO PARTICIPATE AND YOU FULLY UNDERSTAND YOUR RIGHTS. YOU MUST BE 18 YEARS OF AGE TO GIVE YOUR CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH. FOR THIS PROJECT, YOU MUST BE 18 YEARS OF AGE TO PARTICIPATE. IF YOU DESIRE A COPY OF THIS CONSENT FORM, YOU MAY PRINT THIS FORM.

The policy of the Department of Psychology at Illinois State University is that all research participation in the Department is voluntary, and you have the right to withdraw at any time, without prejudice, should you object to the nature of the research. Your responses are confidential. Any report of the data collected will be in summary form, without identifying individuals. You are entitled to ask questions and to receive an explanation after your participation.
If you have concerns about your participation in this study, you may contact:

Dr. Salvatore Catanzaro Phone: (309) 438-5669

Description of the Study:

This is a 1 or 2 session study in which a number of different kinds of psychological tests and measures are being evaluated.

To do this, we will ask you to do the following:

• Fill out basic demographic information
• and information about mood and your mental status during and after your pregnancy.

Nature of Participation:

You will participate in 1 or 2 sessions. In the first session you will: Be at least 26 weeks pregnant. We will ask you to choose an anonymous code number and respond to questionnaires with some background information and information regarding your mood during your pregnancy. This session will take about 20 to 30 minutes.

The second session will consist of answering questionnaires providing information regarding your pregnancy and mood at least 6 weeks after delivery. We will ask you to choose an anonymous code number. This session will take about 20 to 30 minutes.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate several psychological tests and measures, and the possible relations between them. This means we want to find out some general information about the usefulness of the questionnaires for helping us understand the mood and health of pregnant women in general. We are only interested in an evaluation of these questionnaires, and how they are related to one another. We are NOT interested in any specific individual.

Possible Risks:

a) When filling out questionnaires, you may come across a question or answer choice that you find unpleasant, upsetting, or otherwise objectionable. For instance, a few of the questions may cause you to think about negative emotional states.

b) You will be asked to provide private information about yourself.

Possible Benefits:

a) As a token of appreciation, and to compensate you for the time you spend on the questionnaires, you will be given an opportunity to enroll in a lottery in which you may win a gift certificate.

b) When your participation is complete, you will be given an opportunity to learn about this research, which may be useful to you in understanding yourself and others.

c) You will have an opportunity to contribute to psychological science by participating in this research. In particular, we hope our results will be helpful to health care professionals who work with pregnant women and new mothers.

d) You will have an opportunity to sign up to receive information of interest to expectant and new mothers. You will be free to choose not to receive this information.

Confidentiality:

You will choose a code number, which will protect your identity. Your questionnaire responses will be kept private. All data will be kept secured, in accord with the standards of the University, Federal regulations, and the American Psychological Association. No one will be able to know which are your questionnaire responses. Finally, remember that it is no individual person's responses that interest us; we are studying the usefulness of the tests in question for people in general.

Opportunities to Question:

• Any technical questions about this research may be directed to the Principal Investigator, Dr. Salvatore J. Catanzaro, Professor of Psychology and Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, (309) 438-5669
• Any questions regarding your rights as a research participant or research-related injuries may be directed to Dr. Joseph Casto, Office of Research, Ethics, and Compliance, 438-8451.

Opportunities to Withdraw at will:

If you decide now or at any point to withdraw this consent or stop participating, you are free to do so at no penalty to yourself. You are free to skip specific questions and continue participating at no penalty.

Opportunities to be Informed of Results:

In all likelihood, the results will be fully available around: June 2008. Preliminary results will be available earlier. If you wish to be told the results of this research, please contact:

Principal Investigator: Dr. Salvatore Catanzaro Phone: (309) 438-5669]

There is a chance that the results from this study will be published in a scientific psychology journal, which would be available in many libraries. In such an article, participants would be identified in general terms as women who were pregnant or who had recently given birth.

I have read the statements above, understand the same, and voluntarily participate in this survey. I further acknowledge that I can print a copy of this consent form for my records if I so desire.
(By clicking yes, you are also stating that you are 18 years of age or older.)