Information for Medical Students about the STOMP: Tackling Discrimination Study
Research project title: The Students and Trainees on Medical Placements: Tackling Discrimination Study (STOMP: Tackling Discrimination)
Primary investigator: Dr Grace Pearson (cmop-curriculum@bristol.ac.uk)
Co-investigators: Dr Ellen Crisp, Dr Sabi Redwood, Prof Yoav Ben-Shlomo and Dr Emily Henderson
Supported by:
- The Royal College of Physicians
- The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
- The Royal College of Surgeons of England
- The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
- The Royal College of Psychiatrists
- The Royal College of Radiologists
- The Royal College of Pathologists
- The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
- The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
We are inviting you to take part in a research study. Please take your time to read this information sheet and talk to other people if you’d like. We are happy to answer any further questions you may have.
Why are we doing this study?
We are asking medical students about their experiences of inappropriate, distressing comments/behaviour from patients whilst on clinical placements.
We hope to shine a light on this previously under-investigated area of medical education. We hope to use the data collected to develop and implement teaching that will empower future generations of students and doctors to deal with these difficult scenarios.
Why have I been invited to participate?
You have been invited because you are a medical student studying in the UK or Ireland. Participation in this study is entirely voluntary. If you do not wish to take part this will not affect your relationship with your University in any way.
What will happen if I take part in the focus group?
- Participation will involve completing a one-off online questionnaire which will take approximately 5-10 minutes.
- First, we will ask you to read and sign an online consent form (see below).
- Once you have signed this consent form, an online questionnaire will begin automatically. This questionnaire will collect some basic details about you, followed by questions about your experiences and your thoughts on how we can implement teaching to empower students.
- At the end of the survey, you will be asked if you would be willing to explore your responses further in a qualitative focus group or interview. If you choose to opt into the qualitative arm of this study, you will be asked for your email address so that we can make contact with you to arrange this.
- Survey data is collected anonymously. Data from the qualitative arm of this study will be pseudo-anonymised by the linkage of survey responses to qualitative data through randomly-generated Study ID numbers.
- All data will be anonymously/pseudo-anonymously and securely stored on the University of Bristol MySQL server.
What does the consent form say?
Before starting the online questionnaire, you will be asked to read and agree to the following consent statements:
- I understand that participation in this study is voluntary.
- I understand that my participation in this study will not affect my relationship with my University in any way.
- I understand that my information will be kept fully anonymous, unless I opt in to participate in the qualitative study, in which case my questionnaire responses will be pseudo-anonymously linked to my focus group/interview responses via a Study ID number.
- I understand that I will remain anonymous in any report on this data.
- I understand that my data will be collected and stored securely, safely and in accordance with The Data Collection Act (1998) and GDPR.
What are the risks of taking part in this focus group?
We don’t foresee any major risks with taking part. If you were distressed by any of the questions asked, we encourage you to seek support from support/wellbeing services at your University.
Alternatively, there are a number of national organisations that are able to help in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
UK:
- Samaritans https://www.samaritans.org/ Call: 116 123. ‘For anyone who’s struggling to cope, who needs someone to listen without judgement or pressure.’
- Nightline https://www.nightline.ac.uk/ Local telephone numbers listed on their website. ‘Nightline is a listening, emotional support, information and supplies service run by students for students.’
- Papyrus UK https://www.papyrus-uk.org/ Call: 0800 068 4141. Papyrus is a national charity ‘dedicated to the prevention of young suicide.’
- The Mix https://www.themix.org.uk/ Call: 0808 808 4994. The Mix is ‘the UK’s leading support service for young people.’
Republic of Ireland:
- Samaritans https://www.samaritans.org/samaritans-ireland/ Call: 116 123. ‘For anyone who’s struggling to cope, who needs someone to listen without judgement or pressure.’
- NiteLine https://niteline.ie/ Call: 1800 793 793. NiteLine is a confidential support line ‘run by students for students’.
- Pieta https://www.pieta.ie/ Call: 1800 247 247. ‘Pieta is a therapeutic service for people in suicidal distress or engaging in self-harm.’
We’re happy to answer any queries you have via email on cmop-curriculum@bristol.ac.uk.
Will my taking part in the study be kept confidential?
Responses from participants who ‘opt out’ of participation in the qualitative arm of this study will be fully anonymous from the point of submission. This means that we are unable to identify individual responses and withdrawal following submission is not possible.
Responses from participants who ‘opt in’ to participation in the qualitative arm of this study will be pseudo-anonymised, and these survey responses will be linked to their qualitative data via a randomly generated Study ID number. These participants will be able to withdraw their data at any time up to the point at which the qualitative transcripts are anonymized.
Individual participants will not be identifiable in any research output.
What will happen to the results from this study?
We plan to publish the results in international peer-reviewed medical journals and communicated via relevant national and international conferences. Results may also be disseminated using Twitter and other online resources. Individual participants will not be identifiable in any research output.
Who is organising and funding the research?
The research is sponsored by the University of Bristol. It forms part of a PhD for Grace Pearson who is supervised by Dr Emily Henderson and Prof. Yoav Ben-Shlomo. It is funded by The Dunhill Medical Trust (www.dunhillmedical.org.uk). Promotion and dissemination of this research has been supported by various national bodies (listed above).
Who has reviewed the study?
This study has been reviewed by the University of Bristol Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee (21/5/2021, Ref 111262). If you have any concerns about this research, please contact research-governance@bristol.ac.uk.