Please read the following information carefully
Participant Information Sheet
Reimagining the Diary: writing and wellbeing project
Thank you for your interest in taking part in this research project. Before you decide whether or not to participate, please read this information sheet. It sets out why this research is being carried out and what it would involve from you. If you have any questions or anything is unclear, please do not hesitate to ask for more information.
What is the purpose of the project?
This project aims to explore diary writing as a positive tool for enhancing wellbeing (Kelly, 2019; Huxford, Kelly and Kelly, 2020). This project was first developed for teachers and now we are opening it out for others to access. Building on a successful pilot project, we would like to continue to explore what the perfect diary looks like, using it as an innovative intervention into wellbeing for teachers and other professionals. We understand that the perfect diary does not have a one size fits all approach but, specifically, we are investigating what tools might be useful to encourage reflection and mindfulness practices and to create a fun, engaging and therapeutic toolkit for journaling. Working with our creative partners, Stand + Stare, and based on the research findings from the pilot phase, this ESRC Impact Acceleration Award Exploratory Project will co-produce a physical hand-held toolkit, and downloadable PDF, that has multi-sensory stimuli and different ways to record thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams for participants to try out. We want to enhance the development of the toolkit and its subsequent research impact on diary-writing and wellbeing. We then hope to disseminate this research further through the publication of academic articles.
This research is being conducted by two academics employed in different Faculties at the University of Bristol: Dr Lucy Kelly (Education) and Dr Catherine Kelly (Law). This project is funded by the ESRC IAA Exploratory Award.
What will happen to me if I take part and what will I have to do?
You are invited to keep the diary toolkit for one week. This diary will be entirely for your own use and will not be shared with the research team. At the end of the writing period you will be asked to reflect anonymously on the process of writing a diary in an online questionnaire.
Do I have to take part?
It is completely up to you to decide whether you wish to participate in the project. If you agree to take part, you will be asked to give your consent at this stage. You are free to withdraw at any time. Once you have completed your diary you will be sent an anonymous online questionnaire to fill out, reflecting on the project. All the information you provide us will be anonymous, whether in questionnaire or in a focus group. You can discuss any aspect of this with the team.
What are the possible disadvantages and risks involved in taking part in the project?
Whenever we reflect about our lives, achievements and frustrations, there is a small possibility of becoming uncomfortable or distressed. You can stop the diary writing process at any point and you will not be asked to share this material with any member of the research team.
What are the possible benefits of taking part?
You will be directly contributing to an exciting project that aims to improve the wellbeing of teachers, colleagues and other professionals. Moreover, the voices of teachers will be at the centre of this research. Your experiences will also potentially be able to feed into research about how to deal with problems facing other busy professionals.
Will my participation in this project be kept confidential?
Your contact details and personal details will be kept securely and confidentially on a University of Bristol secure network. It will comply with the University of Bristol’s guidance on information security and the General Data Protection Regulation. More information on research data is available here: http://www.bris.ac.uk/infosec/uobdata/research/. When completing a questionnaire or answering responses in a focus group, we will ask for your permission to use your anonymous answers in our research. This might take the form of academic articles or blog posts.
What will happen to the results of the research project?
The research findings of this project will be published in academic articles and books, as well as discussed in academic and public presentations by the research team.
Who is organising and funding the research?
This research is being conducted by Drs Lucy Kelly and Catherine Kelly.
You can find more information about them here:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/law/people/catherine-j-kelly/index.html
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/education/people/lucy-a-kelly/index.html
Who has reviewed the study?
The Education Faculty Research Ethics Committee at Bristol has reviewed this project.
Further information and contact details
If you have any questions at all on this project, please contact Dr Lucy Kelly at lucy.kelly@bristol.ac.uk or Dr Catherine Kelly at ck16846@bristol.ac.uk.
If you have any further questions about our ethical approval, you can email the School of Education ethics team on gsoe-ethics@bristol.ac.uk.
To download this information in a PDF format please click here.