Positive emotion and self harm - seeking participants *contains SI*
Hello everyone, please note that I have the moderators' permission to post this here. Also, please note that this survey contains only one question! (plus a couple of optional questions about age and gender etc)
Griffith University
A Study of Positive Emotions and Deliberate Self Harm
(Protocol number PSY/B3/10/HREC)
Hello, my name is Andrea Kittila and I am a graduate student of psychology at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. For my research I am looking for people aged 18 years and over who have deliberately hurt themselves at least once in the last 12 months in response to positive feelings (for example, happiness, hope, contentment, or excitement) even if those positive feelings then caused negative feelings, and who are interested in taking part in my study of deliberate self harm. This study will further researchers’ understanding of the relationship between positive emotions and deliberate self harm.
I am aware that members of online groups may have been contacted by people who appear to be posing as health professionals, or whose requests raise suspicion regarding the purpose of the research. Consequently, I would like to emphasise the following points:
· I am conducting this research as part of my PhD degree in psychology, being undertaken at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.
· The chief investigator (Dr Penelope Davis) is my PhD supervisor, and has had many years’ experience in conducting, supervising, and publishing research.
· The research has been approved by Griffith University’s ethical review board.
· The survey does not mention any pharmaceutical companies or treatments.
· The survey does not ask any questions about your identity or address, and your responses cannot be traced to you.
· The survey does not attempt to involve you in any groups, financial schemes, or further research.
· Participation will not cost you anything (other than the cost of using the internet).
We expect that your participation will take between 5 and 20 minutes.
It is possible that participating in this study may cause emotional distress. For this reason, we advise that people who are having difficulty managing their self harm may not wish to participate in this study. All participants will receive an information sheet that provides details of a website that provides support for people who engage in self harm; we advise that you make use of this website if your participation causes you distress.
Ethical conduct of this research
Griffith University conducts research in accordance with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. If you have any concerns or complaints about the ethical conduct of the research project you should contact the Senior Manager, Research Ethics and Integrity, on (07) 3735 5585 (if in Australia) or research-ethics@griffith.edu.au
IP addresses (which can identify the computer you are using) will not be collected when you complete the survey, so there is no way that responses can be traced to you.
If you would like more information about the current study, please feel welcome to contact Dr Penelope Davis (the chief investigator) at p.davis@griffith.edu.au, or me (Andrea Kittila, the researcher) at a.kittila@griffith.edu.au.
Last edited by Kitt : 26-02-2011 at 11:32 PM.
Reason: Added that we're interested in the role of all positive feelings, even if those feelings triggered negative feelings
Hi again everyone, as stated in the original post, for this survey we are specifically looking for people who have harmed themselves in response to positive emotion. If this doesn't apply to you, then the survey will not be relevant to you. Please pm me if you have any questions.
Thanks very much to the people who have participated so far.
I would like to clarify something that I didn't make clear in my original post (which is now edited). I am interested in self harm that is triggered by positive emotion in any way, even indirectly. For example, someone might experience a positive feeling (such as happiness), which leads to a negative thought or feeling (such as guilt) which triggers self harm. I am very much interested in those experiences.
The questionnaire contains only one question (plus optional questions regarding age and gender). So, it might take you only 30 seconds to answer the question. However, you are welcome to write as much as you want.
Please remember that responses cannot be traced back to anyone.
Every single response is extremely helpful, and I greatly appreciate people's willingness to share their experiences with me.
Please pm or email me if you have any questions about any aspect of my research. I am very happy to answer any questions.
Everyone who is participating is providing very helpful information - so thank-you all very much.
Any feeling that is generally thought of as being a "positive" feeling (e.g., feeling happy, loved, excited, proud, content, relaxed, etc) is of interest, if it somehow triggers self harm, even if it first triggers a negative feeling.
Also, any information that participants think is relevant to why positive feelings trigger self harm is of interest, too.
Just a quick note to let you know that I am still collecting responses for this survey (which has just one question!). Please contact me if you have any questions about the research.
Thank-you to everyone who has taken part. I appreciate every response and feel priviledged that you are sharing your stories with me.
Everything you need is around you.
The only danger is inside you.
So punch another pillow, to make the pain a little less.
And run another race, to make the pace a little faster.
Use another knife, to make the cut a little deeper.
Then shed another tear, to make reality a little truer.
(plus a couple of optional questions about age and gender etc)
