Consent

Project Title: Men’s Sex Survey


Introduction

Before agreeing to participate in this research study, it is important that you read and understand this research consent form. This form presents the information we think you need to know about this study. With this information, you can decide whether you want to be in the study. If you have questions after you read this form, please ask one of the people working on the study. You should not sign this form until you are sure you understand everything on it. You may also want to talk about participating in this study with a family member or a close friend. We encourage you to save a copy of this consent form for your own records. You can do so by selecting the Print button in your web browser.


Researchers

Dr. Andrew D. Eaton (Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Work – Saskatoon Campus, University of Regina, Andrew.eaton@uregina.ca, 306-664-7371)

Mr. Travis R. Scheadler (PhD Student, The Ohio State University, College of Social Work, Scheadler.2@osu.edu)

Dr. Oliver W. J. Beer (Associate Professor, Social Work & the Centre of Health Technology, The University of Plymouth, oliver.beer@plymouth.ac.uk)

Dr. Paul Shuper (Senior Scientist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto, paul.shuper@camh.ca)

Dr. Lauren B. McInroy (Associate Professor, The Ohio State University, College of Social Work, mcinroy.1@osu.edu)

Dr. Frank R. Dillon (Professor, Arizona State University, frank.dillon@asu.edu)

Mr. Adam Busch (Adam Busch Therapy, adambuschtherapy@gmail.com)

Dr. Tyrone Curtis (University of Victoria, tcurtis@uvic.ca)

Mr. Daniel Vandervoort (University of Regina, d.vandervoort@utoronto.ca)

Ms. Megan Rowe (University of Regina, mg271665@dal.ca)

Mr. Salem Rao (University of Regina, salem.rao@mail.utoronto.ca)

Purpose(s) and Objective(s) of the Research

We are inviting you to participate in this research study to understand your experiences related to your sexual identity development, behaviours, attractions, relationships, and technology use. In particular, we want to gain greater insight into the lived experiences of heterosexual men who have sex with men, with the goal of determining directions for targeted intervention efforts to promote healthy lives.

We will present this study at a juried conferences and we intend to write articles about this study for peer-reviewed journals. We also plan to create community reports, conference presentations, plain language summaries, blogs and media reports. These publications will not include any personally identifiable information. Notice of these publications will be posted on the University of Regina’s Faculty of Social Work’s website.

Eligibility

If you are interested in participating, we welcome your participation in this project if you:

  • Are a cisgender man

  • Are at least 18 years old or older

  • Reside in Canada, the United States, or the United Kingdom

Procedures

  • If you consent to participate in this study, your participation will involve completing an online survey that is estimated to take 30-45 minutes. You will be given a list of resources specific to men who have sex with men and crisis resources at the end of the survey.

  • During the survey, you may be asked if you are interested in participating in an interview. If you indicate interest in participating in an interview and you are a heterosexually-identified man who has sex with other men, a member of the research team may reach out to you via email to schedule an interview over Zoom. During the Zoom meeting, the researcher will review this consent form and you may ask any questions that you may have. That meeting will also include the interview, if you consent to participate. The interview is estimated to last approximately 60-90 minutes. You will receive a separate consent form to review should you proceed to participate in the interview component.

  • You do not have to answer any question that you do not feel like answering during the survey or interview. You do not have to give a reason for not answering if you do not want to. You can also withdraw your consent from the study during the survey or interview, and for one week following completion of the interview with no consequence. Withdrawing from the study will not affect your relationship with any of the study investigators, your relationship with any of the investigators’ institutions or organizations, nor will it affect your eligibility to participate, volunteer, and/or work in future research projects offered by the investigators and/or their affiliations.

  • Please feel free to ask any questions regarding the procedures and goals of the study or your role.

Funded by:

This study is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) in Canada.

Potential Risks

  • There are no known or anticipated risks to you by participating in this research, but there is a chance that you could find some parts of this study uncomfortable. You are going to be asked some questions about your identity development, attraction, behaviour, relationships, and technology use. We need to ask these questions for the study to understand how best to provide support in these areas.

  • If you feel any discomfort during the study, we will encourage you to follow up with Dr. Eaton (Principal Investigator), who can refer you to local support services.

  • Once seven days have passed since interview completion, the principal investigator will de-identify your data by deleting any identifiable information. Only the principal investigator and research coordinator will have access to identifiable study data. The rest of the research team will only have access to the de-identified data.

  • Your name or anything else that identifies you specifically will not be included when we write up the results.

  • There are inherent security issues when using email as a communication tool. By default, emails are not encrypted and are vulnerable to interception by outside sources or someone may see that you are involved in this research if you leave your browser open. We will use the term/phrase "Men's Health Study" in the subject-line of all email correspondence so you will know the email is from us and recommend you submit any email queries using the same term.

  • The data collected in this study are strictly confidential. No identifying information will be collected at any time. We will treat your personal information as confidential although absolute privacy cannot be guaranteed. Please do not put your name or other identifying information in the questionnaire.

  • We collect data through the software Qualtrics, which uses servers with multiple layers of security to protect the privacy of the data (e.g., encrypted websites and password protected storage). Your data will be stored and protected by Qualtrics on Ireland-based servers but may be disclosed via a court order or data breach.

Potential Benefits

You may not benefit directly from participating in this research. We hope that this study will help improve services for heterosexual men who have sex with other men, and other sexually active men, in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Compensation

  • To compensate for your participation in the survey, you will be asked if you would like to enter into a raffle to win a $30 electronic Amazon gift card. At the end of the survey (or if participants choose to exit early), you will be directed to a separate page via a link where you can voluntarily enter their email address for compensation.

  • There will be 30 gift cards available to be raffled among participants from Canada, 30 gift cards available to be raffled among participants from the United States, and 30 gift cards available to be raffled among participants from the United Kingdom. If you withdraw participation during the survey, you will still be eligible to enter the raffle. The gift card will be sent to your email.

Confidentiality

  • All information collected in this study is confidential, which means that the study team will not tell other participants, faculty, staff, or anyone else what you say in the study.

  • In order to comply with University policy regarding gift card compensation, your email address will be shared with Financial Services at the University of Regina. This is the only information in that will be shared. All email communications with you will not contain any information about the study and will be deleted immediately upon receipt of the form. There are inherent security issues when using email as a communication tool. By default, emails are not encrypted and are vulnerable to interception by outside sources or someone may see that you are involved in this research if you leave your browser open. We will use the term/phrase "Men's Health" in the subject-line of all email correspondence so you will know the email is from us. Email addresses provided for compensation will be stored in a password-protected, encrypted file on the University of Regina Faculty of Social Work secure network, accessible only to Dr. Eaton (Principal Investigator) and the University's Financial Services. This information will be used only to distribute and confirm the delivery of gift cards and will be permanently deleted once all compensation has been sent and verified. Your email address will never be linked to your survey data.

  • The only individuals who may see your name are Dr. Eaton (Principal Investigator) and Mr. Travis Scheadler (research coordinator). We will never give out your name to anyone else unless a court of law forces us to do so.

  • Storage of Data:

    • We will store your de-identified data from the survey on a password-protected computer at the University of Regina's Faculty of Social Work and/or a password-protected computer at The Ohio State University College of Social Work. Your name and other information that could tell others who you are will not be stored. All identifiable survey data (e.g. email address) will be separated from the rest of your data for the raffle and all survey data will then be aggregated. Any remaining file will be destroyed 7 years after completion of the study.

    • Your email address information will be electronically destroyed after recruitment is closed and compensation raffle is completed. This is anticipated to be Winter 2026.

Right to Withdraw

  • Your participation is voluntary and you can answer only those questions that you are comfortable with. You may withdraw from the research project for any reason, at any time without explanation or penalty of any sort.

  • Whether you choose to participate or not will have no effect on your position [e.g. employment, class standing, access to services] or how you will be treated.

  • Please note that you will not be able to withdraw from the survey portion of the study because no identifiable information will be collected. Therefore, there will be no way to identify you and remove your data.

Follow Up

  • We anticipate publishing the results in the spring of 2026.

  • To obtain results from the study, please contact Dr. Andrew Eaton (Principal Investigator) at Andrew.eaton@uregina.ca or visit the University of Regina’s Faculty of Social Work’s website for more information.

  • The Faculty of Social Work at University of Regina is located at 111-116 Research Dr., Saskatoon, SK, CA S7N 3R3.

Questions or Concerns

  • Contact the researcher(s) using the information from the Researchers section above.

  • This project has been approved on ethical grounds by the University of Regina Research Ethics Board on (26 August 2024). Any questions regarding your rights as a participant may be addressed to the committee at (306-585-4775 or research.ethics@uregina.ca). Out of town participants may call collect.

  • Please note that contacting the researcher(s) with questions about your participation in the study will result in a breach of your confidentiality. Specifically, you contacting the researcher(s) about your participation in the study will allow the researcher(s) to know your identity.

IMPLIED CONSENT FOR SURVEYS:

By completing and submitting the questionnaire, YOUR FREE AND INFORMED CONSENT IS IMPLIED and indicates that you understand the above conditions of participation.

I agree, participate now

Click the link below if you agree to participate in this study:

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