EPQ Interviews at Havoca in regards to sexual abuse

[Jamie]

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am doing research on how sexual abuse affects survivors like you and me. I understand how sensitive this issue can be, however for those who are willing could you please write a mini letter or email me how the incident has effected you. This will help people like me get valid results on how to help survivors. I can personally guarantee you that all the information you give will be protected and safe.
I just want any information you survivors are willing to give me because just my story is not enough.
Thank you for all your help.
Pratibha Srikanthan Please email directly to: pratibha90@hotmail.co.uk

More background:
RE: EPQ Interviews at Havoca in regards to sexual abuse

I am writing to inform you about the details of my study and the ethical considerations I have given towards my EPQ. I am well aware that the organization takes confidentiality very seriously and it is extremely important as you deal with many sensitive issues.

The main question for my EPQ is ‘does sexual abuse affect a person’s mental behaviour more than their physical behaviour?’. I plan on investigating how sexual abuse will affect an individual’s behaviour and if it’s more mentally caused or physically. Although the overall effects vary from person to person, I would like to see which effects are most prominent and evident within a survivor. Learning more about this can help those in the medical profession to find the best form of care for the survivors. Being able to know what they could be feeling will help us show them that they are not alone in the healing process and that there are resources to help them chose a pathway of healing. As a person who personally knows people that have been affected I wanted to acknowledge the effects of abuse to help individuals find a way that helps them cope with the overwhelming feelings.

I am significantly aware that my chosen topic is very sensitive and could without any acknowledgement offend or hurt people unnecessarily. To avoid all this, I have decided that when writing about the information I will get from this opportunity I will not include any dates, names or places so your confidentiality is not broken and the information gathered is not misused. As well as that I will not put the answers to the questions physically into the project, instead I intend to analyse the effects and create an essay stating the effects it has on survivors without using personal stories. I would also like to make a promise that all the data and files taken from this research will be deleted as of immediately after their use in the EPQ essay from my hardware as well as your systems. I personally would like to ensure you and the volunteers that no data will be leaked or misused.

I understand that not many people would volunteer for this and I also understand if this is difficult for your charity to do, however this could help us gain a better understanding so we could help the 85000 women and 12000 men that are sexually abused or raped every year in the UK. I would like to thank you for this opportunity and help to aid my research on such an important and emotional matter.

Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,
Pratibha Srikanthan

[shine]

Hi Jamie,
A couple of questions - what is EPQ? Has the researcher got ethical permission to do this piece of research? And if they have why not use a university email? Ethical consent to conduct the research gives more of a safeguarding than a 'promise' to maintain confidentiality.
Thanks

[pod]

I had these same questions, I also have never heard of the epq. So I Googled it and discovered it is a qualification offered in UK called the extended project qualification. It is studied at A Level standard, I.e. Most students will be 17 / 18 yrs old and preparing to enter university - although a levels are also popular with adults, especially those who may want to go to University. So that explains the lack of an academic email address, this individual has almost certainly not already studied at University.

I read the guidelines issued by one of the UK examining bodies, the AQA, and there is no standard format for the epq, or for any method of obtaining ethical consent. The student has to make up their own project and their own wording for any questionnaires or anything like that that they might use.

I hope that this answers your questions, obviously if you have any doubts then just don't take part in the project.

[Kylie72]

Hi I had the same questions, who is this person, which university etc.

I certainly wouldn't be taking part if it's not doctorate level.

Thanks for your research pod that made decision making nice and simple.

[Jamie]

Just as a note - we always make sure researchers have full ethical approval for any research they advertise here. We allow all levels of research to take place as we feel study, promotion and investigation at any level is of a considerable benefit to our plight.

Notwithstanding that, your decision to take part must be wholly attributed to what makes you feel comfortable and your own unique aims.

[rainaswish]

I will participate if approved by HAVOCA. You may email me if interested.
Raina

[qweenbee]

Hi all

Well I'm not a person who easily expresses concern however I am going to here, which indicates the level of my concern about this.

With absolute respect to where this request came from and to HAVOCA's decision to advertise, and acknowledging its' good intention, my personal opinion is that people should not undertake research which falls outside of an ethical approval board of a university or other institution of relevant authority. Certainly not research with the level of sensitivity here-in.

I feel I can make a good comment about this, as a bachelor trained senior health professional, and as a research officer in a health program at a university, and as a teacher in a health program at a university, and as a student who is studying a masters by research with view to commencing a doctoral program next year.

The creation of knowledge is a complex task which should only be trusted to those with qualifications in doing such. Without this, research is highly likely to be biased and non-systematic (even without intention of it being that way), and biased non-systematic research is useless given its' results are not valid. Even worse, biased non-systematic results may misrepresent the population being studied. As a survivor, that is the last thing which I would want for this community.

I feel awful about expressing this, and I certainly hate to think I am precipitating any sort of conflict, I really have fear of being that person. However I feel the moral and ethical impetus in this situation is so great that I must put my own fears aside and express this so others can make an informed decisions for themselves.

I apologise for contributing to this thread in such a negative way but do hope my perspective assists people to make a comfortable, informed choice about partaking in various kinds of research.

[rainaswish]

QB,
Your post is not in any way negative. It is informative based on your professional experience and knowledge. I need meaningful things to become involved in in order to avoid depression and become healthier. You're background obviously provides insight that should be considered. Your displaying an effort to ensure that data collected and utilized for research be specific to professional criteria that must be accurate and technical yet not biased. I appreciate your post. You are looking out for the best interest of the overall goal which is the protection and advocacy of abuse survivors. I believe that the administrators of HAVOCA should consider your professional input. Thank you for helping the community to make a more informed decision on their interest in participating in such research.
Much gratitude,
Raina

[qweenbee]

Thanks Raina for that reassurance. That was very hard for me, been sitting here in all my shame, which triggers when I express my true self. So good to hear from you.

[rainaswish]

No shame necessary. You were looking out for our best interest as a community and also for fellow survivors. Feel confident that you did a virtuous thing by providing your professional input. You did amazing QB.
Thank you
Raina

[pod]

Thanks for your post, Qweenbee. As Raina says, it is a valuable contribution, and there is certainly no need to apologise. Maybe you could feel proud of yourself, please!

[rainaswish]

Agreed!!
Raina

[NIgirl]

There is no need to feel badly for expressing your thoughts and opinions here. Our purpose here at havoca is to provide just that a safe environment for survivors to express themselves freely.

There are procedures in place here at havoca for those wishing to obtain permission to conduct research. Namely that person must go through our trustee and he will seek to ensure that the research is not harmful in any way to our members here. I am aware that any research carried out must first have ethical approval amongst other things however it is my understanding that the responsibility for that lies with the person carrying out the research and the institution in which they work/study. Therefore I would imagine that Havoca's responsibility to its members is to ensure that they are safe and that they have the choice to partake or not. In doing this our trustee will seek to obtain all the necessary details from the researcher before making the final decision to bring it to our members here.

You are right to have concerns but can I reassure you that the decisions to allow someone to conduct research here is not taken lightly and that all persons wishing to conduct research must first have expressed permission from our trustee. It is then up to members here if they wish to partake.

Can I also take this opportunity to remind our members that it is not ok for any member of havoca to use this forum for research covertly or without permission. If anybody needs any further clarification on this matter regardless of stance please don't hesitate to speak up and/or contact our trustee Jamie directly.

Nigirl

[Sigma]

There are no statute laws about research on human beings in the UK, unlike research on animals... However, data is another matter, so is confidentiality ... any research, at any level, using human participants requires ethical approval, the British psychological society has its own code of ethics.

I only have experience within the science realms and universities use their own REC's - from my experience.

It's a funny one ethics, it's a headache at best also, I don't know what ethics has been granted here, I would be surprised if it's been through a full REC, I say this because a requirement is transparency and as such a second person would be identified as a contact, as per their code. So it's an educated guess, but that's all.

Anyway, what's one persons no in ethics can be another's ok - I guess as with all things, questionnaire related, it's personal and personal responsibility is required.

This is low level research, it's a questionnaire, a report/essay will be written for half an alevel ... Hence the equally low level ethic approval (may be - I don't know)

I can see the other side, it's vulnerable people, potentially with mental health issues, issues of consent are then potentially unclear ... Blah blah ... As a supervisor I would be taking a couple of paracetamol by now ...

Anywho ! Guess it's up to the individual .... Is it text book ethically sound ... Maybe not.... Is that important here ... Probably not !

[qweenbee]

There are procedures in place here at havoca for those wishing to obtain permission to conduct research. Namely that person must go through our trustee and he will seek to ensure that the research is not harmful in any way to our members here. I am aware that any research carried out must first have ethical approval amongst other things however it is my understanding that the responsibility for that lies with the person carrying out the research and the institution in which they work/study. Therefore I would imagine that Havoca's responsibility to its members is to ensure that they are safe and that they have the choice to partake or not. In doing this our trustee will seek to obtain all the necessary details from the researcher before making the final decision to bring it to our members here.

Thanks for replying NIgirl and for outlining some of the procedures HAVOCA have in place to ensure the safety of HAVOCA members. I do find it comforting to know there is some level of governance over these matters, although my perspective remains the same; I still don't feel this type of research is appropriate for this forum.

It's not clear for example, if research is conducted for purposes for an institution which doesn't have an ethical approval board, whether this would be shared with members or not. Some would argue it doesn't matter because of the very nature of smaller scale projects and their limited potential to make an impact in knowledge creation and translation, others like me would still disagree based on principle.

So anyhow I'll respectfully disagree with HAVOCA's decision here. If I find myself ruminating over this, as I tend to do on matters I'm passionate about, I'll contact Jamie for further clarification, thanks for guiding me his way.

It's a funny one ethics, it's a headache at best also...

Anyway, what's one persons no in ethics can be another's ok - I guess as with all things, questionnaire related, it's personal and personal responsibility is required.

Is it text book ethically sound ... Maybe not.... Is that important here ... Probably not !

Sigma, agreed, ethics approval is a headache at best! Boy do I know this first hand. I think on most occasions ethical approval boards are over-the-top in how they govern projects. They do, however, function with purpose of protecting research participants and that why I feel so strongly about them. In fact it's not the approval from the board itself which I feel strongly about, it's ensuring the safeguarding against risks to participants and how rigorously this is done.

Also agreed one persons' ethics can be at odds with anothers'. Which is why approval boards function, they contain people from a variety of backgrounds with a variety of perspectives to ensure that the 'average person' would be reasonably protected from harm and find any risks involved acceptable. Is it important to be textbook ethically sound? Agreed probably not, given what you've and I've said. But is it important there is a rigorous process in place to ensure the safety of research participants? Absolutely.

Anyhow enough of my passionate dialogue, thanks again to the HAVOCA members and moderators for engaging in this important conversation.