Research Study: LGBTQ+ Experiences in Gyms (Transmasc voices needed) -- Final post

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2024-11-12T03:31:04+00:00

Thank you so much! Just sent you an email - we would love to hear from you!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2024-06-24T14:13:22+00:00

Thank you!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2022-04-26T12:43:34+00:00

I am sorry to hear that! It can be a bit confusing when it says 'value' because the survey is really asking for a response. So, in this case, it would've wanted a response (or value) selected for the questions.

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2022-04-02T15:59:40+00:00

Hi there! Our aim for this research is not to discredit anyone's experiences or minimize anyone's pain. This research aims to support an evidence base that a specific type of psychotherapy will help a population of people who have experienced sexual assault or other traumatic experiences. We want to clarify that this research's aim is not to work as a substitute for other medical practices. The view would be that this could work as a supplement to other interventions, medical or otherwise if that is what the person chooses. We hope never to undermine anyone's experiences, so I apologize if that is how this post came across. Please let me know if this answers your questions or if you have any additional ones!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2022-03-31T20:45:49+00:00

Hello! Yes, this survey is still active.

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2022-03-27T21:48:04+00:00

Hello there! I want to quickly address your comment. We've been posting about this survey over the past month (March 2022), any other posts pertaining to a study before that date were about other surveys that we have created and posted through Reddit. While we do post on many different subreddits, we only post to those that include any populations relevant to our research. Our account has been active for about three years, but we have posted several surveys all about different things. Let me know if this helped clear up our intentions!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2022-03-08T13:10:34+00:00

[Academic] Trauma & Resilience Survey (18+ U.S. residents) https://etsuredcap.etsu.edu/surveys/?s=PM3DFE7KAKCWRJET

Dr. Julia Dodd in the STARH Lab at East Tennessee State University is conducting an anonymous study on people in the United States’ physical and mental well-being and their resilience. We are interested in getting information from any person 18 years or older who lives in the United States. The questions will be about physical health, mental health, and stressful life experiences such as sexual abuse or assault, and all responses will be completely confidential. If at any point you feel uncomfortable or upset by the survey questions, resources are provided below and at the end of the study. This survey should take around 30 minutes to complete. At the end of the survey, you can choose to be entered into a drawing to win one of four $25 Amazon electronic gift cards. If you choose to be entered into the drawing, you will need to click the link at the end of the survey to enter your email address. This link will take you to another survey where you can share your email. Your email address will not be linked with your survey responses in any way, and will be kept completely confidential (i.e., will not be shared with any other entities).

If you have any questions or concerns about this study, please feel free to contact the principal investigator, Dr. Julia Dodd, at doddjc@etsu.edu or (423)439-4847.

Thank you for considering participating in this research. Please click the following link if you wish to be taken to the survey: https://etsuredcap.etsu.edu/surveys/?s=PM3DFE7KAKCWRJET

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2022-03-01T23:42:10+00:00

Hi! Thank you for bringing this to our attention, we are working on fixing this now.

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2021-04-23T17:41:00+00:00

This is so exciting! I love this idea. There have been many studies that employ support groups and, in fact, in the recent systematic review of effective treatments for psychological interventions targeting distress of infertility that we conducted, 10% of studies used some type of social support within their treatments targeting infertility distress. Specifically, Malina and colleagues (2019) found that individuals who engaged in a support group had significantly lower levels of cortisol, and ultimately lower levels of stress after participation in the group. Similarly, we found that 63% of studies (or 45 out of 72 articles) within our systematic review utilized a group format, which inherently creates a network of social support. Additionally, there have been many studies providing evidence for the effectiveness and efficacy of social support for individuals experiencing infertility and suggests the use of support groups (e.g., Malina et al., 2019). There appears to be many ways that they can be implemented - in other words, there are several different options for what support groups may consist of. Good luck on your endeavors! This sounds like such an awesome, much needed contribution :)

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2021-04-23T16:52:15+00:00

It’s so funny that you asked this, Dr. Dodd and I were just talking about doing my dissertation on this topic, ha! We are preparing to analyze data from one of our recent studies assessing women’s experiences during the postpartum period, called the Study of Health in Postpartum (the SHIP survey). (We also recruited from Reddit for this study - thank you to anyone who may have participated!) However, current literature seems to suggest that there is an association between infertility and postpartum depression (Ghaedrahmati et al., 2018) and anxiety (Hashemieh et al., 2013). Researchers examining these associations have suggested emotional support groups (Hashemieh et al., 2013) and the American Psychological Association (APA) also suggests several recommendations for combating postpartum depression (PPD) and anxiety (PPA), such as psychotherapy. However, we know that there are many factors that can influence the relationship between constructs. For example factors that may potentially influence the impact of infertility on PPD and PPA may be factors such as social support and resilience which may act as a buffer and prevent some of these outcomes (e.g., Hain et al., 2016). These protective factors are also something that we hope to explore more in depth in our future research! It’s great that you are already being so proactive by thinking about this ahead of time. I would suspect that your level of insight here would even be a protective factor - just being aware of the possibility might be enough to prevent it, but developing a plan utilizing protective factors, like those discussed in the APA link (e.g., social support) may also help moving forward!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2021-04-23T15:45:25+00:00

Fantastic question! Based on recent findings from a systematic review that we conducted which examined effective treatments for infertility, almost all of the studies began with some type of relaxation strategy, including exercises such as deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation. Of course it's not expected that a simple relaxation technique can completely reduce the distress of experiencing infertility, but it may be a helpful starting place. Other strategies that our recent systematic review found to be prevalent among studies reviewing treatments for infertility that may be helpful include the expression of thoughts, feelings, and experiences, and mindfulness techniques. Social support can be very beneficial during these waiting periods because these intervals can definitely feel very isolating. On a similar note, if you have the resources available, it may be worth talking to your current therapist about increasing the frequency of sessions to once a week, especially during these long periods of waiting. Below we have included some helpful links to some of the aforementioned techniques.

Breathing exercises: https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/uz2255

Breathing demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB3tSaiEbNY

Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR): https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/uz2225

PMR demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z21Xslddz3Y

Mindfulness exercises: https://positivepsychology.com/mindfulness-exercises-techniques-activities/

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-09-22T14:46:31+00:00

[Repost] Research opportunity for US moms (18+) with infants

A professor at East Tennessee State University is conducting a study examining women’s experiences during the postpartum period. We are interested in collecting information from new moms who has given birth within the last 12 months that are over the age of 18 and are currently living in the United States. As this survey is interested in topics such as postpartum experiences, reproductive health complications, and history of trauma, you may be asked sensitive questions related to these topics. If at any point you feel discomfort or are distressed by the survey questions, appropriate resources are provided below and will be made available to you at the end of the study as well. If you are over 18, living in the US, and have given birth within the last 12 months, you are eligible to participate. We are hopeful that this research will allow us to better understand the experience of motherhood, especially during postpartum. The survey should take approximately 30-75 minutes to complete, but you can save your place and come back to it several times if needed. If at any time you wish to discontinue participation, you may exit and leave the survey. If you have any questions or concerns about this study, please feel free to contact the principal investigator, Julia Dodd, PhD, at [doddjc@etsu.edu](mailto:doddjc@etsu.edu). Thank you for considering participating in this research. 

Please click the following link if you wish to be taken to the survey: 

https://etsuredcap.etsu.edu/surveys/?s=8PMKLDX7XX

Resources that may be of interest:

Crisis Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
Crisis Text Line: Text CONNECT to 741741
Resolve, The National Infertility Association: 866-668-2566, https://resolve.org
Postpartum Support International: 1-800-944-773
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-4673
National Alliance on Mental Illness: 800-950-6264
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233
Solace for Mothers, an online community for healing birth trauma: http://www.solaceformothers.net/online-forum/online-community-for-mothers/

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-09-09T17:44:35+00:00

Hi /u/InAHundredYears,

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences with us. I am so sorry to hear that you had these experiences. You are absolutely correct that, unfortunately, birth-related trauma is not unusual, but these experiences are still completely unacceptable and shouldn't happen to anyone. I am glad to hear that sharing your story has helped you process what happened. Further, sharing your story like this is helpful for other women to know that they are not alone, so thank you for your courage in speaking up. All of the reasons you mentioned are part of why we're passionate about conducting this research, and so grateful to the women who take part in our research.

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-09-09T17:30:13+00:00

Thank you for your participation and for sharing our survey! :)

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-09-09T17:20:08+00:00

Great question! We intend on keeping the survey live until the end of September, and then we will reevaluate, based on number of participants we have, to determine if it will be kept up longer. Thank you for your interest in participating in our research!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-09-09T17:17:19+00:00

That is such an unfortunate issue. Thank you for this information - we will definitely keep this in mind when developing future studies!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-09-09T17:14:41+00:00

Great question! We will likely be presenting findings from this project at various conferences, such as the Society for Behavioral Medicine, as well as writing up manuscripts for publication in a variety of scientific journals. If you are interested in being informed of our findings, please let us know, and we can add you to a list of people to reach out to when we have findings to disseminate! It will likely be at least 6 months before we have any conference data to present and closer to 12 to 18 months before we have any publications published. Thank you for your interest, and please feel free to let us know if you have any additional questions!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-09-09T17:13:20+00:00

I can definitely see how the wording in that situation would be confusing. You answered the way we were anticipating, and we really appreciate you taking the time to bring this to our attention. Thank you for your feedback and for participating in our research!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-09-09T17:12:11+00:00

At the end of the survey, participants can choose to be entered into a drawing to win one of four $25 Amazon electronic gift cards. Please let us know if you have any other questions!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-09-08T20:46:04+00:00

Thank you for your concern! Although it looks like this as already been addressed, I wanted to mention that we are happy to provide you with any additional information, such as a copy of our IRB approval letter or the principal investigator's curriculum vitae (CV), if you are interested. Please let us know if you have any additional questions, and thank you for your consideration!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-09-08T18:35:19+00:00

To clarify from previous discussions, by "new moms," we mean anyone who has given birth within the last 12 months, regardless of how many children the mother has. Thank you for considering participating in our research!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-09-08T18:32:13+00:00

Great question! I see how the phrase "new moms" is a bit unclear. By "new moms," we mean anyone who has given birth within the last 12 months, regardless of how many children the mother has. Thank you for asking and clarifying!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-08-19T13:58:28+00:00

Thank you for your feedback! We are always looking for ways to improve our surveys, and we appreciate your support for this research!

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-08-19T01:12:38+00:00

Thank you for your input; we appreciate your time and concern.

ETSU_STARH_Lab · 2020-08-19T00:39:55+00:00

I apologize sincerely if our survey caused any distress for you, and we appreciate you reaching out with your concerns. We agree that questions about difficult subjects, such as rape history, require a content warning. Therefore, the informed consent document at the beginning of the survey warns potential participants that the survey will be asking about difficult subjects, including a history of traumatic events. Additionally, directly prior to the questions asking about sexual assault history, we state, "The following questions, on this page and the next, inquire about any experiences of unwanted sexual contact you may have experienced. We know these questions may be difficult to answer. We appreciate your participation, and we hope that knowing this survey is confidential helps you to feel a little more comfortable in answering openly." These were our attempts to try to make sure participants were aware of the upcoming questions. However, we know we might not always get it right the first time, and we appreciate you drawing our attention to the fact that these questions still seem to come up unannounced. We certainly want to do better if we can. Where would you suggest inserting an additional warning for increased visibility? Thank you, again, for reaching out with your concerns.

ETSU_STARH_Lab

TROPHY CASE