Invitation to participate: Understanding parental experiences of early obsessive-compulsive signs emerging at 4-10 years

Posted on: December 7th, 2022

Do You Have Problems with Seeking Reassurance from Others? & Do You Have Obsessional and Compulsive Problems?

The University of Oxford are interested to learn more about the effects and perceived acceptability of seeking and receiving reassurance for your obsessional and compulsive problems. They are also curious to learn whether these effects and perceived acceptability differ when seeking and receiving support instead.

If you are over 18 years old, a resident of the UK/ROI, and are interested in taking part, please first complete our 15-minute online screening form.

This study is being carried out by Chiara Causier at the University of Oxford, UK, who is a Trainee Clinical Psychologist at the Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology and Research. The study is supervised by Professor Paul Salkovskis (a consultant clinical psychologist). This study has been reviewed by, and received ethics clearance through, a subcommittee of the University of Oxford Central University Research Ethics Committee ([R79097_RE001]).

Study Purpose

The purpose of this research study is to find out more about how people experience seeking and receiving reassurance from others for OCD symptoms, and whether it differs to people’s experience of seeking and receiving support from others for OCD symptoms instead. Therefore, please understand that this study will ask questions about your OCD, and reassurance-seeking behaviours.

Payments

OCD UK is supporting recruitment for this study. For each participant completing the study, this charity will receive a payment of £2 from our research fund.

Aftercare

We will not be able to follow up with you personally after the video call session is complete, although if you are eligible to take part in the main study and complete further questionnaires about your mood, we may discuss some of these responses with you during the video call. Please remember that you can exit the surveys, or Microsoft Teams call, at any time if you begin to feel upset. If you feel upset after completing the study or find that some questions or aspects of the study triggered distress, talking with a trained support worker (see below), or qualified clinician (e.g. your GP) may help.

If you feel you would like assistance please contact your GP, The Samaritans on 116 123 (UK or ROI) (www.samaritans.org), Mind Info line on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk), or a mental health support organisation local to you.

You can also find ways to access psychological support for OCD by accessing the following
links:

UK
ROI

In the case of an emergency please call 999 or your local emergency number. These details will be shown again at the end of the survey. In addition, the following resources are specific to OCD. These will be shown in the footer of each questionnaire, and at the end of the survey:

OCD Action
OCD UK

How will my data be used?

We will be using information from your responses to questionnaires and discussions with the researcher in order to undertake this study. This will include the collection of some special category data: ethnicity, and mental health. The research team will also use your name and contact email if you choose to provide these, to contact you about the research study.

The questionnaires will be delivered by a service provided by Qualtrics. Qualtrics will be a data processor with respect to your personal data and its servers are based in the EU. Where we use third-party service providers or subcontractors in connection with any of the research activities described above (including IT services and survey provision services), these companies are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal data in line with our policies. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes, but rather to only process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

The confidentiality of your answers and the security of your data are very important to us. Once we download your answers from the survey platform, we will separate your name and email address from your survey answers and store these separately so that your answers are de-identified. Your data will be stored in a password-protected file on the University of Oxford network and will be anonymized once data analysis is complete. Your IP address will not be stored.

You can find out more about how we use your information, or withdraw your email address at
any point by contacting chiara.causier@hmc.ox.ac.uk

Will the research be published? Could I be identified from any publications or other research outputs?

The findings from the research will be written up as a thesis and will be published as original research in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, as well as presented at relevant conferences, to facilitate future research and clinical care. A copy of my thesis will be deposited both in print and online in the Oxford University Research Archive where it will be publicly available to facilitate its use in future research. No personally identifiable information will be included in any of these publications.

Who do I contact if I have a concern about the research or I wish to complain?

If you have a concern about any aspect of this project, please speak to Chiara Causier, chiara.causier@hmc.ox.ac.uk and she will do my best to answer your query. She will acknowledge your concern within 10 working days and give you an indication of how it will be dealt with. If you remain unhappy or wish to make a formal complaint, please contact the Chair of the Medical Sciences Interdivisional Research Ethics Committee at the University of Oxford Email: ethics@medsci.ox.ac.uk
Address: Research Services, University of Oxford,
Boundary Brook House, Churchill Drive, Oxford OX3 7GB).
The Chair will seek to resolve the matter as soon as possible.