PROJECT TITLE: The Motherhood Experience Project – Parenting Forums and Wellbeing

Chief Investigator:                                                                 

Dr Danielle Wagstaff

E: dwagstaff@csu.edu.au

P: 03 5327 6247

Student Researcher:

We are seeking Australian mothers aged 18 years and over with at least one child aged one year and under, to participate in the research project identified above. This research will be conducted by Dr Danielle Wagstaff and Ms Sophia Hutton from Charles Sturt University. You should also be a user of online parenting forums (external to Facebook) such as babycenter, mumsnet, or everybump.

This study is entirely anonymous, meaning we have no way of knowing if you have completed the survey. While there are no direct benefits to participating in this research, this project will help us understand more about the relationship between social media and parenting.

If you decide to participate, you will be asked to answer some questions such as your parenting forum use and your wellbeing such as depression and social support. PLEASE NOTE: we are asking about your perceptions of yourself and your parenting capacity. If you are not comfortable at any time, stop participating and if required, seek help. Some information on support is listed below. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

If you would like to enter the draw to win a $50 AUD voucher at the end of the survey, you may click the link at the end.

The data collected will be presented in the students’ fourth year dissertation and may also be presented at academic conferences or published in peer-reviewed journals. The researchers named on this Information Statement may also re-analyse your data later as part of future studies and it may be made available to other researchers for future research. Open access to unprocessed data is increasingly being encouraged in research, to ensure transparency in research and analysis processes. Should the findings of the study be published, de-identified/anonymous data (allowing the reported findings to be verified) may be placed in a public data repository. No individual participant will be identified in, or could be identified from, any published report or published dataset from this study. A summary of the project and its findings will be made available upon request, at the completion of the study.

Your confidentiality is assured as your data will be stored without reference to your name or other identifying information, as no identifying information is being recorded. No individual data will be reported – only group data. Following completion of the study, all response data will be stored securely on a password protected computer, and only the investigators named in this statement will have access to it.

If you wish to ask any questions prior to participating, please contact either of the named researchers above.

Note: The Charles Sturt University Human Research Ethics Committee has approved this project. If you have any complaints or reservations about the ethical conduct of this project you may contact the Committee through the Presiding Officer:

Presiding Officer, Human Research Ethics Committee, Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga NSW 2650

Tel: (02) 6933 4213. Email: ethics@csu.edu.au

Any issues you raise will be treated in confidence and investigated fully and you will be informed of the outcome.