Form 1 of 7
Public Safety Personnel Mental Wellness: The Impact of Organizational Factors
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Megan Edgelow, Assistant Professor
Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen's University
Ontario, Canada
Funder:
What is the Study About?
You have been invited to take part in a research study from the School of Rehabilitation Therapy in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen's University. The purpose of this study is to build an understanding of how organizational factors impact public safety personnel mental wellness and work outcomes.
Public safety personnel, sometimes referred to as first responders, may include firefighters, paramedics, police officers, border services officers, correctional workers, search and rescue personnel, dispatchers or communications officers, and operational intelligence personnel (Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment, 2020).
We are inviting public safety personnel (PSP) from Ontario to take part in a research study. The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of organizational factors on the well-being of PSP. If you agree to take part, you will be asked to complete an online survey through the RedCap platform. The survey will gather information on your experiences at work. The survey should take you about 10-20 minutes to complete. There are no expected side effects or risks from your participation, however, there may be questions of a personal nature that may upset you. If you feel upset after completing this survey and find yourself in crisis, please call Crisis Services Canada at 1-833-456-4566. If you agree to participate in this research study, it is not expected that the survey will benefit you directly. The results gathered from this study will help add to the body of literature about the well-being of PSP. Additionally, the information gathered may provide PSP, employers and unions with a greater understanding of the impact of organizational factors on well-being. This research may help to discover ways to better support this population in the future. The results from this study are planned to be published in academic journals and presented at conferences.
Participants who take part in this study will be able to enter to win one of twenty available $50 gift cards. After submitting your survey responses, you will be directed to a separate survey and can enter your contact information to be entered into a draw for a chance to win. Your odds of winning are based on the number of individuals who participate in the survey. Your name and email will be stored securely and separately from your survey responses and permanently erased once the draw is complete. Entry into the draw will close once all survey responses have been received. The draw will take place 1 week after the survey closes and be conducted by a random number generator. Only one prize will be awarded per participant. Winners will be contacted using the contact information provided upon entry into the draw. If a winner has not responded within 2 weeks, the winner will forfeit the prize, and another draw will be held to determine a winner. The prize must be accepted as awarded or forfeited and cannot be redeemed for cash. Participation is not required for entry into the draw; to enter without participating in the study, submit a 3x5 index card with your name and contact information, along with the study title, printed by hand to Megan Edgelow, 31 George St., Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6. Entries must be received by September 1, 2024 to be eligible. We are not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, illegible, damaged, destroyed, postage due, or misdirected entries. No bulk mailings will be accepted. All entries will become the property of the study team and will not be returned. If you have any questions, please contact HSREB at HSREB@queensu.ca.
No conflicts of interest are present in this survey as the researchers will not benefit from remuneration or commercialization of the research findings. Your participation in this study is voluntary and you may choose to decline or withdraw consent at any time during the survey without consequence. To withdraw consent and remove your responses while your survey is in progress, please contact workandmentalhealth@queensu.ca. Your data cannot be withdrawn after the submission of the anonymous survey.
Your confidentiality will be protected to the extent permitted by applicable laws. You will not be asked to provide any identifying information (e.g., name, address, phone number) as part of this study, therefore survey data will be kept in non-identifiable form. This means that your data will not be linked to you in any way since we will not require you to provide any identifying information. Survey data will be kept for 5 years after the study has been completed. All electronic records will be stored on a university server and protected by a user password only accessible to Dr. Megan Edgelow and her research team. At the end of the retention period, all electronic records will be deleted. Participants will not be identified during dissemination or future publication. The Queen's University Health Sciences and Affiliated Teaching Hospitals Research Ethics Board (HSREB) may require access to study-related records to monitor the ethical conduct of the research. Besides the HSREB there will be no other persons with access to the study data during collection, use, analysis, dissemination, retention and/or disposal.
For ethics concerns please contact the Queen's University Health Sciences and Affiliated Teaching Hospitals Research Ethics Board (HSREB) at 1-844-535-2988 (Toll free in North America) or hsreb@queensu.ca. If you have any questions about the research, please contact Dr. Megan Edgelow via telephone at 613-533-6000 ext. 75593 or via email at workandmentalhealth@queensu.ca.
This Letter of Information provides you with the details to help you make an informed choice. All your questions should be answered to your satisfaction before you decide whether to participate in this research study. You have not waived any legal rights by consenting to participate in this study. This study has been reviewed for ethical compliance by the Queen's University Health Sciences and Affiliated Teaching Hospitals Research Ethics Board.