Attention:
To complete the questionnaire, you must give consent at the bottom of this page (use scrollbar on right)
March 2009
Title of Project: The Prevalence of hand disorders amongst hand held device users and their relationship to patterns of device usage
Principal Investigator: Richard Wells
University of Waterloo, Department of Kinesiology
(519) 888-4567 Ext. 33069
Co-Investigator: Benjamin C. Amick, III
Institute for Work and Health, Toronto
(416) 927-2027 Ext. 2115
Student Investigator: Sophia Berolo
University of Waterloo, Department of Kinesiology
(519) 888-4567 Ext. 36126
You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Richard Wells and Sophia Berolo, of the University of Waterloo, and Benjamin C. Amick of the Institute for Work and Health, Toronto. The objective of the research study is to investigate the prevalence of hand and upper limb musculoskeletal symptoms amongst hand held device users and the association between specific factors of device usage and musculoskeletal symptoms of the hand, arm, shoulder and neck. Musculoskeletal symptoms may be one or some combination of pain, numbness or tingling in the specified body part. Hand held device use is considered either work-related or leisure-related.
If you decide to volunteer, you will be asked to complete a 5-10 minute online survey in this research. Survey questions focus on how hand held devices are used and what musculoskeletal symptoms, if any, are present in the hand and upper limb. If you prefer not to complete the survey on the web, please contact us and we will make arrangements to provide you with a mail-back copy of the survey. Participation in this study is voluntary and a decision not to participate will not negatively impact your relationship with your employer. You may decline to answer any questions that you do not wish to answer and you can withdraw your participation at any time by not submitting your responses. There are no known or anticipated risks from participating in this study.
It is important for you to know that any information that you provide will be confidential. All of the data will be summarized and no individual could be identified from these summarized results. Furthermore, the web site is programmed to collect responses alone and will not collect any information that could potentially identify you (such as machine identifiers).
The data, with personal identifiers removed, collected from this study will be maintained on a password-protected computer database in a restricted access area of the BMH building of the University of Waterloo and/or the Institute for Work and Health. As well, the data will be electronically archived after completion of the study and maintained indefinitely.
Should you have any questions about the study, please contact Sophia Berolo, Richard Wells or Benjamin C. Amick. Further, if you would like to receive a copy of the results of this study, available later in 2009, please contact either investigator.
I would like to assure you that this study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through the Office of Research Ethics at the University of Waterloo. However, the final decision about participation is yours. If you have any comments or concerns resulting from your participation in this study, please feel free to contact Dr. Susan Sykes, Director, Office of Research Ethics, University of Waterloo, at 1-519-888-4567 ext. 36005 or by email at ssykes@uwaterloo.ca.
Thank you for considering participation in this study.
I have read the information presented in the information letter about the study being conducted by Richard Wells and Sophia Berolo of the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo and Ben Amick of the Institute for Work and Health.
I have had the opportunity to ask any questions related to this study, to receive satisfactory answers to my questions, and any additional details I wanted. I am aware that I may withdraw from the study without penalty at any time by advising the researchers of this decision.
This project has been reviewed by, and received ethics clearance through, the Office of Research Ethics at the University of Waterloo. I was informed that if I have any comments or concerns resulting from my participation in this study, I may contact Dr. Susan Sykes, the Director, Office of Research Ethics, at 519-888-4567 ext. 36005.