Research project title: Disclosure of Alcohol Use in Pregnancy in Healthcare & aNtenatal Environments (DAPHNE)
Participant Information: Healthcare Professionals
You are being invited to take part in a research project. Before you decide, it is important for you to understand why the project is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. Ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information. Take time to decide whether you wish to take part.
1. Why is the project being conducted?
This project aims to investigate what factors might affect whether pregnant people tell healthcare professionals whether they have drunk alcohol in their pregnancy. The UK has a high level of alcohol use during pregnancy, which can affect both the baby and the mother. It’s important to understand why pregnant people may or may not tell healthcare professionals about their alcohol use in pregnancy, as openness between pregnant people and healthcare professionals leads to improved antenatal care.
2. Why have I been invited to take part?
You have been identified as a potential participant because you responded to a recruitment poster/advert. You should only take part if the following conditions apply to you:
- You are currently 18 or over
- You are currently employed by the NHS as a healthcare professional
- You have worked directly with NHS patients who have accessed antenatal services within the last 12 months
You must not take part if the following conditions apply to you:
- You are currently under the age of 18
- Your last employment with the NHS was more than 12 months ago (excluding short- or long-term absence such as sickness or maternity leave)
- You work for the NHS but are not in a healthcare professional capacity, such as operational or administrative roles. This is because this study focuses on the information provided to patients from healthcare professionals during antenatal appointments.
3. Do I have to take part?
No. It is up to you to decide whether to take part. You can ask questions about the project before deciding. You can stop being part of the project at any time, without giving a reason. You may withdraw from the project by closing the browser.
4. What will happen to me if I take part?
The anonymous questionnaire will be conducted online (using your phone, tablet, laptop or PC) and includes questions that will ask you about your interactions with patients accessing antenatal care, the current guidelines around drinking alcohol in pregnancy, and your knowledge of the impact of drinking alcohol in pregnancy. This questionnaire is non-judgemental and is not designed as a test of your knowledge, so we encourage you to answer the questions as fully and honestly as you can.
Submitting the questionnaire implies your consent to take part in this project.
The anonymous questionnaire should take 20-30 minutes to complete. The topic might be considered sensitive because there are many different views about drinking alcohol during pregnancy. With this in mind, please consider your privacy when completing the questionnaire so that nobody can oversee your answers.
Once you have summitted the questionnaire you will be automatically directed to a separate form which will ask you to provide your contact details if you are interested in being interviewed about the project topic. If you do not wish to provide your contact details, you can contact the investigator directly. More information about the interviews will be provided in a separate participant information sheet. If more people are interested in being interviewed than is required, participants for the interview will be selected using a random order number generator.
5. Are there any possible disadvantages or risks in taking part?
Taking part in the project is not anticipated to cause you any disadvantages or discomfort. The potential psychological harm or distress will be the same as any experienced in everyday life.
Questions included in this project require you to reflect on your clinical practice, both currently and in the past. If this causes you any concern, you can seek help and advice from support services such as the NHS Staff Wellbeing Hub (NHS England):
https://www.england.nhs.uk/supporting-our-nhs-people/support-now/staff-mental-health-and-wellbeing-hubs/, or further sources are provided in at the end of this document in the section ‘Information & Advice Links’.
The survey is anonymous and the responses you provide cannot be traced back to you nor shared with your employer. This means you can answer the questions honestly without concern regarding any impact on your professional life or standing.
6. Are there any benefits in taking part?
While there are no immediate benefits for those people who take part, it is hoped that this project will lead to further understanding about drinking alcohol in pregnancy and how this is discussed with healthcare providers. This information will be used to inform healthcare services and practices to make improvements within antenatal care.
7. What if we find something unexpected?
This survey will ask some questions about your personal alcohol use. Some of the questions you will be asked are taken from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for Consumption (AUDIT-C). This is a standard assessment tool that is publicly available and does not need to be completed with or by a qualified practitioner. You will not be given a score from these questions. However, if you would like more information on alcohol and drinking behaviour, please look at Alcohol Change UK (
www.alcoholchange.org.uk). If you have any concerns about your levels of drinking or responses to alcohol, you can self-refer to your GP or other community support services. A range of support services can be found here:
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-advice/alcohol-support/ This study will not suggest the presence or absence of diagnosable conditions. The project is not a clinical or personal assessment, and the investigators are not appropriately qualified to provide meaningful individual assessments.
8. What personal data will be collected and what will happen to this?
The information you give us, or that we collect from you, from which you can be identified (e.g. from identifiers such as your name, date of birth, audio recording etc.), is known as personal data. Taking part in this project will not involve the collection/use of personal data by the investigator, unless you provide us with your contact details.
If you indicate that you would like to be contacted about taking part in an interview following this survey, this will be done via the email address you provide. This will not be linked to your responses.
9. Will the project be published? Could I be identified from any publications or other outputs?
The findings from the project will be written up in a PhD thesis. The outcomes of this project may also be disseminated via academic publications and/or conference presentations. All written and oral presentations of the survey results will be done in a way that no-one can work out that you took part in the project.
A copy of my thesis/dissertation will be deposited online in the LJMU archive where it will be publicly available to facilitate its use in future projects.
10. Data Protection
Liverpool John Moores University is the data controller with respect to your personal data and as such will determine how your personal data is used in the project. The University will process your personal data for the purpose of the project outlined above. Research/evaluation is a task that is performed in the public interest. Further information about your rights with respect to your personal data is available from the LJMU
Privacy Notice for Research Participants (https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/legal/privacy-notice-and-cookies/external-stakeholders-privacy-policy/research-participants-privacy-notice). The LJMU Data Protection Officer can be contacted via email:
DPO@ljmu.ac.uk The online platform may collect personal data (e.g. via the IP address, backups of project data). This makes them a data controller with respect to personal data and, as such, will determine how personal data is used. Please see their privacy notice here
https://www.questionpro.com/help/privacy-policy.html.
11. Who has reviewed this project?
This Project has received a favourable ethics opinion from an LJMU Research Ethics Committee. Research Ethics Committee Reference Number: 251125LJMUREC170
12. Who is funding the project?
This project is funded by Liverpool John Moores University, Institute for Health Research.
13. Whom do I contact if I have a concern about the project or I wish to complain?
If you have a concern about any aspect of this project, please contact the primary supervisor for the project: Dr Sam Burton, Senior Lecturer (School of Psychology) via
s.p.burton@ljmu.ac.uk and we will do our best to answer your query. You should expect a reply within 10 working days.If you remain unhappy or wish to make a formal complaint, please contact the Chair of the Research Ethics Committee at Liverpool John Moores University who will seek to resolve the matter as soon as possible:
Chair, Liverpool John Moores University Research Ethics Committee; Email:
FullReviewUREC@ljmu.ac.uk; Tel: 0151 231 2121; Research Innovation Services, Liverpool John Moores University, Exchange Station, Liverpool L2 2QP
14. Payments, reimbursements of expenses or any other benefit or incentive for taking part
There is no reimbursement for participating in the survey. If you choose to participate in the interview portion of the study, you will receive £25. Your contact details will not be recorded with the project data collected from you.
15. Further information and Contact details
If you would like to discuss the research with someone beforehand (or if you have questions afterwards), please contact:
Principal Investigator: Annie Beauchamp, Postgraduate Researcher
LJMU School/faculty: School of Psychology, Department of Health
LJMU Central telephone number: 0151 231 2121
Supervisor Name: Dr Sam Burton
Information and Advice links
If you would like more information on alcohol and drinking behaviour, please look at Alcohol Change UK:
If you have any concerns about your drinking, you can speak with your GP, midwife, or other community support services. A range of support services can be found here:
You can find out more about alcohol use during pregnancy, including some of the risks associated with alcohol using these links:
If you are concerned about your birth experience and/or feel that you might have experienced a psychologically traumatic birth, you can contact the Birth Trauma Association or Birth Trauma Trust. Links to their websites are below and they also have private community Facebook support pages.
Please consider retaining a copy of this information sheet for your future reference.
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