VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION: Your participation in this study is completely voluntary and you may choose to stop the study at any time without penalty. Furthermore, if you withdraw before finishing the study, you can request the researchers to remove your responses/data from the analyses by emailing them with your self-generated Participant ID. Following publication of information, already published data can’t be deleted. Your dataset, at this point, can only be removed from further analysis and from use in future publications.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS AND RISKS: Please note that there are some questions that ask about substance use, gender dysphoria, and experiences of prejudice and discrimination that some people may feel uncomfortable answering. You will be able to skip any question you wish, and all information will be kept completely anonymized. Only aggregated results will be analyzed, and no one participant will be singled out or identified for any reason. The knowledge gained from this study is expected to help researchers better understand the relation between substance use, gender dysphoria, and mindfulness, to help one day develop effective psychotherapeutic interventions. However, we will not know whether the study will lead to benefits to people until all the information obtained from this research has been collected and analyzed.

COMPENSATION: As compensation, if you are not coming from the McGill participant pool, you will be entered in a draw for a chance to win $50 CAD via gift-card (e.g., Amazon, ebay) for the completion of the study and if you fulfill our inclusion criteria (if you are over 18, have a good written comprehension of English, and are living in Canada or the US). “Completion of the study” refers to submitting all responses to Qualtrics before closing your browser. As a reminder, you will still have the option to skip any question. A total of 60 prizes will be given out, and it is expected that approximately 600 individuals will participate in the draw. Therefore, approximate odds of winning are 1 in 10. Participants who won the prize will be notified by email in order to receive their prize,  and will be required to answer a skill-testing question as per provincial laws (E.g., (5+10) / (3-2)). If a participant does not reply within two weeks, a second notification will be sent. If a participant does not reply within two other weeks (i.e., four weeks in total), their name will be discarded and another name drawn.

If you are completing this study via the McGill participant pool, you will be granted 1 pool credit for the completion of the study if you fulfill our inclusion criteria (if you are over 18, have a good written comprehension of English, and are living in Canada or the US). This will be done through the Sona System.

Please select if you are here from the McGill psychology participant pool or if you would like to be entered into the draw for the cash prize.

CONFIDENTIALITY: All information and records identifying you will be kept strictly confidential. The identifying information (e.g., your email address) we receive will be used to provide information on logistics (e.g., arrange compensation). Only the principal investigator will have access to your identifying information.

The data you provide during the study will be identified by an alphanumeric code. Your responses will be kept for seven years from first publication (in accordance with McGill University Regulation on the Conduct of Research), and after this period the data will be destroyed. All information contained in reports or publications issued as a result of this study will be coded and presented in such a way that your identity will not be revealed. Your data may be accessed by the Research Ethics Board in order to ensure adherence to study protocol and sound management.

Funding agencies and publishers often ask researchers to make their research data accessible to other researchers upon completion of their study. Making research data available to others allows qualified researchers to reproduce scientific findings and stimulates exploration of existing data sets. Future projects may focus on topics that might be unrelated to the goals of this study. In line with these requirements, we will preserve the data for future reuse. To ensure confidentiality, any shared data will be stripped of any information that could potentially identify the participant.

Do you consent for your de-identified data to be used for future research uses?

At the start of the study, you will be asked if you would like to participate in the second part of this study. At the end of the study, you will also be asked if you would like to participate in other future studies. Furthermore, at the end of the study, you will also be asked if you wish to receive results from the study. If you decide you wish to receive information about future studies and/or results, we will retain your email address and keep it separately from the rest of your data in a password protected file to ensure confidentiality. If you wish to be removed from either list, you simply need to contact the principal investigator.

Please note that there will be a second phase of this study where we will be recruiting participants to complete a similar shorter series of questionnaires 3 months after their initial completion of this survey. Would you be interested in receiving an email about this second part? Saying yes will only place you on the mailing list. You will be emailed by the research team, and you can decide at that point if you are willing to fill in the measures again.

FUNDING SOURCE: This research is funded by the McGill University - William Dawson Scholars Award.

CONTACT INFORMATION: If you have any questions related to your participation in this study, comments, or concerns you may contact the principal investigator or supervisor who are affiliated with McGill University:

Dr. Bassam Khoury by e-mail: bassam.el-khoury@mcgill.ca;
Agata Kasprzyk (B.A.) by e-mail: agata.kasprzyk@mail.mcgill.ca

You have the right to request information from the study investigators regarding the findings from this study. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your rights or welfare as a participant in this research study, please contact the McGill Ethics Officer at deanna.collin@mcgill.ca

CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE: Having read the above, I understand that by clicking the “I agree” button below, I agree to take part in this study under the terms and conditions outlined in the letter of information. If you do not wish to participate, you can just exit the survey.

SAVING THE LETTER OF INFORMATION: Please feel free to screenshot (by pressing “Print Screen” on your keyboard) or copy this Letter of Information for your records. If you wish for a pdf copy, please contact the Principal Investigator at agata.kasprzyk@mail.mcgill.ca