CETS Landing Page

Welcome to the Survey of Clients' Critical Experiences in Therapy!

1. Are you a UMass Boston student planning to obtain subject pool credit for participation in this study? (Note: Only select "yes," if you would like to obtain subject pool credit. Otherwise, please select "no," even if you are a UMass Boston student.) *This question is required.

Consent Form I for The Critical Experiences in Therapy Study

University of Massachusetts Boston
Department of Psychology
100 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA. 02125-3393

Description of the Project:
Sometimes it can be hard for clients to know what they need in their therapy sessions or to let their therapists know. This study is based upon research on what clients have reported was most helpful in their psychotherapy experiences. It reviews these experiences in a questionnaire to help people consider their own therapy experiences so that clients can better communicate with their therapists and get the most out of their sessions. This survey focuses on the further development of this questionnaire, and we appreciate your participation. Since part of this study is to examine your thoughts about therapy across time, we may invite you to complete a second similar survey in two weeks time. We are very interested in learning how clients experience psychotherapy and in learning from you about what was important about your own experience.

If you are in a Psychology 101 or 100 course that provides credit for subject pool activities and you indicate that you would like to receive subject pool credit, we will inform your instructor that you have participated in our survey by providing to that instructor your name and student number as required by the subject pool protocol.

Participation in both surveys is really important. The completion of both surveys helps us understand how your experiences in therapy shift or remain the same so please complete both surveys, if at all possible.

To participate in this study, you must be: (1) 18 or older and (2) either currently in therapy OR have been in therapy within the last year. This questionnaire asks about your experiences of therapy, your connection with your therapist, and your sense of improvement in therapy. It can be a great way to reflect upon your experiences of therapy, what you've learned, and needs you still may have.

This is a two-part study that asks participants to complete two surveys administered two weeks apart (approximately 20 minutes each) in order to develop a feedback form that therapists can use so their clients can give them feedback about what is really important to them in their therapies. You are helping us to learn more about this via your participation. This consent form is focused upon the first survey.

Contact Information and Rights

You are asked to take part in a research study about in-session experiences that influence the effectiveness of psychotherapy. The lead researcher is Dr. Heidi Levitt, who is a Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and can be reached at Heidi.Levitt@umb.edu. You may contact her if you have questions about this survey, either before you give consent to participate or at any time during the study. If you have any questions or concerns about your rights as a research participant, please contact a representative of the Institutional Review Board (IRB), at the University of Massachusetts Boston, which oversees research involving human participants. The Institutional Review Board may be reached at the following address: IRB, Quinn Administration Building-2-080, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125-3393. You can also contact the Board by telephone or e-mail at (617) 287-5374 or at human.subjects@umb.edu.

Benefits & Risks:

Completing this survey can be a self-reflective exercise that allows you to reflect upon your experiences of therapy, consider what you have gained from that experience or if there are issues you would still like to discuss with a therapist or other important people in your life.

Participation in this study presents minimal risk. In completing the survey items, you might recall feelings or events related to your therapy experience. If concerns arise and you would like to speak with a counselor, you can contact the following crisis hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Additionally, listings of hotlines for specific concerns (e.g., abuse, addictions, self-harm) are available at http://www.allaboutcounseling.com/crisis_hotlines.htm.

If you are a student at UMass Boston, you may contact the Counseling Center at the University of Massachusetts Boston, which provides free therapy and low-cost services to students, at 617-287-5690. The Counseling Center is located on the second floor of the Quinn Administration Building. Their website is http://www.umb.edu/healthservices/counseling_center.

Confidentiality:

This study is designed to be confidential. That is, the information collected will be accessed only by the research team conducting this study and only for study purposes. Since part of the study’s purpose is to learn about your thoughts about therapy across time, at the end of this survey we will ask if you would like to receive an invitation to complete a corresponding survey two weeks from now.

Participants who complete this survey will be invited to take a second survey that asks them to continue thinking about their therapy and, after completing both, can elect to be entered into a raffle to win one of ten $100 Amazon gift cards as a thank you for their time. If you are willing to complete the second survey, you will be asked to enter your email address and at the end of that survey will enter it again to be enrolled in the raffle. Your email address will not be shared with anyone. It only will be used to contact you with an invitation to the second part of this study, to help us connect your data from the first and second surveys, and to provide the Amazon gift card, should you win. Once these tasks have been completed, your email address will be deleted from our dataset.

If you are in a Psychology 101 or 100 course that provides credit for subject pool activities and you indicate that you would like to receive subject pool credit, we will inform your instructor that you have participated in our survey by providing to that instructor your name and student number as required by the subject pool protocol. After we have given the instructor this information, your name and student number will be deleted from our research file. You will receive 1 credit for participating in the first survey and 1 credit for participating in the second survey. Please remember that subject pool testing is complete on December 7, 2016 by 5pm.

Data from this survey may be reported in professional publications and conferences, but your responses will be averaged together within a pool of responses and will never be linked to any potentially identifying information.

Voluntary Participation:

The decision whether or not to take part in this research study is voluntary. If you do decide to take part in this study, you may decide not to answer questions asked or may terminate participation at any time without consequence. Your decision not to complete the survey will not influence your personal data being kept confidential. You will have no penalty or loss of benefits if you withdraw your information and do not complete the survey. You may also pause the survey and return later by using the same link. Your help will further research on clients’ experiences in therapy and enhance therapists’ ability to help their clients in ways that clients find most valuable.

Signatures:

I HAVE READ THE CONSENT FORM. MY QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED. BY CLICKING THE "NEXT" BUTTON BELOW, I INDICATE THAT I CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS STUDY. I ALSO CERTIFY THAT I AM 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER.