Participant Information Sheet

About the study

This study will compare two different types of brief online interventions which focus on self-compassion. We are interested to see if they can help enhance your wellbeing as a father.

Taking part in this Project will involve 2 stages.

The first stage takes about 50 minutes and includes three parts.

• Answering some initial survey questions (about 10 minutes) about your emotional wellbeing, parenting, and compassion
• Trying out an online activity. You will be randomised to one of two different online activities. Each activity takes about 20-30 minutes and be done totally on your own, where and when you want. In each online activity you will be provided some different evidence-based practical strategies on ways of coping with stress, anxiety, and other emotional experiences that come with being a dad.
• About 5 minutes of surveys and feedback after you complete the activity.
• After you finish an activity, you will have a chance to share (if you want to) your best advice or words of encouragement to other dads, based on what you learned in the activity. If you tell us it’s okay, we will post your advice on the project website for other people to read but we will never post any information that would tell others who you are.

The second stage happens three months after you complete the online activity and it involves:

• Completing an online survey (which will take about 10-15 minutes) which you will receive via email. After you complete this survey, you will receive a $20 gift card.
• You can also complete an optional feedback interview where you can tell us a bit more about your thoughts on the online activity. If you complete the interview, you can receive an additional $20 gift card as a token of thanks for your time.
• In addition, after finishing the online survey in Stage 2, you will also have free access to the other online activity

Eligibility

• Participants must be a father or significant male caretaker of a child aged 3-9 years of age.
• Participants must not already have a current daily meditation practice.
• Participants must be fluent in written and spoken English.
• Participants must have internet, computer, laptop or smartphone access

Risks

• There are minimal risks involved with the intervention.
• During the course of the study, you will be asked questions about compassion, and if at any stage you feel distressed by the study, please feel free to withdraw and contact the lead researcher. You are free to omit answering any question or participating in that aspect of the study and are free to withdraw.
• If you have any concerns at any time throughout the study, please feel free to get in touch with the researchers
• Although empirical research indicates compassion focused interventions lead to improvements in wellbeing, not all who complete these exercises do experience improvements, with some noticing no changes.

Confidentiality and security of data

• All data will be stored confidentially on the UQ Research Data Management system
• Only members of the research team will have access to identified data.
• All data will be coded to protect confidentiality. Analysis and reported data will not be linked to any individual.
• The data provided will only be used for the research purposes.
• The data collected as part of this study may be analysed for future research focused on the same central research topics.
• The data collected may be uploaded to an online data repository in line with best open science practices for the purpose of encouraging research replication.
• Any publications arising from any analysis of data collected will only use and include non-identifiable data

Participation and withdrawal

• Consent is required for participation. This will be administered online during preliminary assessment.
• Participation in this study is completely voluntary. You are able to withdraw at any time without prejudice or penalty.
• If you wish to withdraw from the study, you can simply withdraw from stopping the exercises, and if you can, please let us know via email.
• If you do withdraw from the study, the assessment measures collected, and any personal information will not be included in the study results. Your withdrawal will not affect your current or future relationship with the University of Queensland.
• You will be asked to complete some surveys about compassion and your wellbeing in this study, but we will not be providing any individual data or individual results back to participants.

Ethics Clearance and Contacts

• This study has been cleared by one of the human ethics committees of the University of Queensland in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council's guidelines. You are free to discuss your participation in this study with project staff contactable at dadcompassion@uq.edu.au. If you would like to speak to an officer of the University not involved in the study, you may contact the Ethics Officer on 3365 3924.

Contact

If you would like to learn more about the study please contact dadcompassion@uq.edu.au or +61 7 3365 6802

This research Ethics ID number: 2024/HE001394.