Abortion Doula Research Consent Form 1; Survey
DOULA PROJECT ‘lucht cabhrach’ INFORMATION SHEET
Research team, Dr Fiona Bloomer, Naomi Connor, Emma Campbell
You are being invited to take part in a study that we are conducting at Ulster University in the School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences. Before you decide if you wish to take part, it is important that you understand what the study is for and what you will be asked to do. Please read the following information and do not hesitate to ask any questions about anything that might not be clear to you. Thank you for taking the time to consider this invitation.
The purpose of this study
This study seeks to provide preliminary research to inform a pilot project which seeks to establish of a NI Doula Support Network. The purpose of this research is to explore the impact of the Doula training on participants.
It is envisaged that the doula network will provide training and support for individuals who wish to become abortion doulas. The network is also expected to provide abortion doula access on a longer term basis. This services is needed to meet the needs those accessing abortion in a society where obstacles to abortion prevail and the approach to abortion healthcare remains deeply stigmatised from institutional to community level.
The immediate impact of this service would aid women directly, it would create a network of abortion advocates and it would also lend itself to the huge body of work that is required in the longer term to destigmatise abortion on every level.
The study will inform the work of project partner Alliance for Choice in their programme of workshops in order to provide guidance and training to those interested in becoming involved in providing NI Abortion Doula support, aimed at complimenting the existing limited statutory abortion service provison.
The training programme has been informed by international research on similar services and informed by the experiences of Alliance for Choice trainers in providing advice and support to women and pregnant people on their abortion journey
1 Why have I been chosen for this study?
You have been chosen for this study as a self-selected participant of the Doula training course.
2 Do I have to take part in the study?
Taking part in the study is voluntary and if you decide at any time that you would like to withdraw from the study, you do not have to supply us with any reason for doing so. If you decide that you would like to take part in this study, you will be asked to complete an online consent form, a copy of which you can print and keep.
3 What will happen if I take part?
If you decide to take part, we will ask that you complete the online consent form (consent form 1) on the www.luchtcabhrach.com website. You will then be sent a link to the online survey. The survey will take approximately ten minutes to complete. The software tools that we intend to use in the study are data secure and comply with ethical standards.
4 Are there any risks to me if I take part?
No, however if you decide at any time that you would like to withdraw from the study, you do not have to supply us with any reason for doing so. In such instances any information already provided by will not be used by the research team.
5 Are there any benefits for me?
The purpose of this research is to move abortion toward normalisation; Alliance for Choice are committed to eliminating barriers to abortion access by honouring bodily autonomy and collective liberation. This can be accomplished by providing healing centred, peer-informed practical and emotional abortion support, community-based education, and culture/narrative shifting practice.
The study will also inform the work of project partner Alliance for Choice in their work on Doula training, recruitment and development, never before carried out in Northern Ireland. We believe that the development of this programme will be valuable throughout the current pandemic and beyond for a number of reasons:
It will enable us to provide immediate and direct assistance to women and pregnant people in the gaps in service provision that we noted through our direct contact with women. It will continue public discourse on abortion access as a health, justice and community issue, which is fundamental to our integrity as a part of Alliance for Choice; a grassroots reproductive justice organisation.
The direct assistance Alliance for Choice have given to women and pregnant people seeking ad-hoc Doula care since the regulations and limited service provision rolled out, is vital but they need a wider cohort of supporters. Your participation should you wish to take part will significantly contribute to this current study and ongoing delivery of Doula support.
6 Will my taking part in the study be kept confidential?
We will not ask for your name. Anything that you disclose about yourself or your experiences in the online survey will be kept confidential. However, there are some limitations to this. The research team will have to pass on information to third parties if:
a) you tell us you are planning to harm yourself or others;
b) you tell us that you are involved in criminal activity which is not known to the police
7 What happens when the study ends?
This evidence base gathered from the online survey will be utilised to inform academic publications and briefing papers. The study will also inform the work of project partner Alliance for Choice in their work beyond ‘lucht cabhrach’. To inform plans for future development of this programme and associated grant-seeking efforts.
Data will be stored securely at Ulster University for 10 years in line with the University policy and all data collected will be treated with the strictest of confidence, according to the principles outlined in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR; 2018)
Data will be placed in the UK Data archive to allow for secondary data analysis by other researchers.
8 What will happen to the results of the study?
The outputs from the project will be held by Ulster University and made freely available.
9 Who has reviewed the study?
The project has been reviewed by the School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences Ethics Filter Committee at Ulster University.
10 Contact details
My contact details are: Fiona Bloomer, Ulster University, Room 3A07, Jordanstown Campus, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim, BT37 0QB, Tel: 02890 3668836; email fk.bloomer@ulster.ac.uk
This consent form must be read in conjunction with the Research Information Sheet.
Project title: Abortion Doula project - Survey
Research team: Dr. Fiona Bloomer, Naomi Connor, Emma Campbell
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