ABOUT THE AUTHORS

ABOUT THE PROJECT

We would like to invite you to take part in our research study. Before you decide whether you would like to take part, we would like you to understand why the research is being done and what it would involve. Please read the information on this sheet carefully before deciding whether you would like to take part.  This study has been approved by the UCL REC Ethics Committee (ID: 19415/001).

What is the purpose of the study?

This study is aiming to find out whether the scale we have created is able to measure people’s experiences of feeling empty. Emptiness has been defined by Herron & Sani (2021) as “A feeling that one is going through life mechanically,devoid of emotions and purpose, and therefore is empty inside, with emptiness often being bodily felt in the form of a discomfort in the chest. This is coupled with feelings that one is disconnected from others, in some way invisible to others, and unable to contribute to a world that remains the same,but from which one is distant and detached”.

We are interested in whether our scale can accurately measure how empty, or not empty a person feels in a way that is reliable, and so we want to look at how people’s answers relate to their answers on other scales as well. The scale we are trying to create is not able to diagnose for any mental health conditions.Instead, our hope is that this scale will be able to be used in research and clinical work to help us understand emptiness better and shape future psychological therapies for people who feel empty.

Is this study for me?

We know from previous research that anyone can feel empty, and so we are asking anyone over 18 who has ever felt empty to take part.

Do I have to take part?

No - It is up to you to decide to join the study.  If you agree help with this research, we will then ask you to give your consent to take part. You are free to withdraw at any time, without giving a reason.  

What will happen if I take part?

If you decide to take part in this study,we will ask you to complete a series of questionnaires. We will ask about your age, gender identity, education and ethnicity so that we can understand who has taken part in our study.

We will ask you to answer questions about feelings of emptiness, and of other mental health experiences, including whether you have ever self-harmed or considered suicide. We know from previous research that people who have received a diagnosis of a Personality Disorder,often experience high levels of emptiness and so we will ask if this applies to you. However, you do not have to have ever had a mental health difficulty to take part in this study. We will also ask you about any feelings of loneliness and your satisfaction with your life. Altogether the questionnaires should take no longer than 20 minutes to complete but you may complete them more quickly than this. We will also ask some questions about you're experience of Covid-19, so that we can understand whether this has impacted your experiences of emptiness.

Your participation in this study will be anonymous as will not ask for your name or any other information that can be used to identify you. As a result, none of the researchers will know who you are.

Once you have completed the questionnaires, you will be asked whether you would be happy to complete them again in about 3-6 months’ time. By completing the questionnaire again we will be able to to assess how accurate our scale is overtime. If you are happy to do this, then you will be asked to provide an email address. This is not essential, and it is entirely your choice if you want to help us again. Your email address will not be used for anything else other than to send you a link to complete this survey again in a few months. If you are concerned about confidentiality you could create an anonymous free email address to use for the purpose of this study.

What will I have to do?

If you decide to take part, we would recommend that you to find a quiet space to complete the questionnaires where you have some privacy. 

What are the possible disadvantages of taking part?

We will be asking you to think about your experience of emptiness and mental health challenges, which you may find distressing. If this occurs you are able to withdraw from the study at any time by just leaving the website.

A ‘Participant Support Sheet’ is available on this website if at any time you feel distressed and would like some support or would like some suggestions for how to manage your distress. This will encourage you to manage any difficult thoughts or feelings that you may have after completing the questionnaires.  It will also signpost you to where you can access additional support.

What are the possible benefits of taking part?

Emptiness is a common and distressing experience and can be particularly pervasive for people who receive a diagnosis of a personality disorder and so far, little is known about it. We also do not have high quality scales to measure and study accurately. The results of the study will help improve our understanding of the experience of emptiness and will help us to determine whether our scale can be used in further research and to help clinicians in practice. Your responses to this study will help us in developing this scale, which may then be used by researchers and clinicians in future.

We will also donate £1 to a UK mental health charity (Rethink Mental Illness) for every person that takes part and completes the questionnaires (up to a maximum of £400). 

What happens when the research study stops?

The results of the research study will be written up as part of the researcher’s thesis project for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at University College London (UCL), a university in central London. The full report of the study will be published on the website in September 2022 so that you can see the conclusions of the research. These findings may then be published in scientific journals and presented at national and international conferences. As previously mentioned, the results will not contain any details which would allow you to be identified in any way.

Will my information be kept confidential?

Yes. We follow ethical and legal practice regarding confidentiality.  As stated previously, no personally identifiable data will be collected in this study so there is no possibility of a loss of confidentiality.  If you decide that you would be happy to complete the study again in a few months, your email address will be available to the principle investigator, who will contact you by email with the link to complete the study again. In the meantime, your email will be separated from the main data and kept in a password protected file. Once this email has been sent to you, your email address will be deleted and not stored.

If you choose to contact the research team by email at any point, your email address would be available to the investigator who will respond by email. Your email address will not be retained once the query has been addressed. There is no means of connecting your email address to the questionnaires.

Notice:

The controller for this project will be University College London (UCL). The UCL Data Protection Officer provides oversight of UCL activities involving the processing of personal data, and can be contacted at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk. This‘local’ privacy notice sets out the information that applies to this particular study. Further information on how UCL uses participant information can be found in our ‘general’ privacy notice. 

The information that is required to be provided to participants under data protection legislation (GDPR and DPA 2018)is provided across both the ‘local’ and ‘general’ privacy notices. The lawful basis that will be used to process your personal data is: ‘Public task’ for personal data. Your personal data will be processed so long as it is required for the research project. If we are able to anonymise or pseudonymise the personal data you provide we will undertake this and will endeavour to minimise the processing of personal data wherever possible.

If you are concerned about how your personal data is being processed, or if you would like to contact us about your rights, please contact UCL in the first instance at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk. All data from this study will be stored in accordance with the University College London Data Protection and Records Management policies.

What will happen if I don’t want to carry on with this study?

You have the right to withdraw from the study at any time up to the final page and ‘submit’ button.  If you choose to leave the survey before the final ‘submit’ button, your data will not be stored. After you have clicked the final ‘submit’ button it will not be possible for us to identify and remove your data specifically because your data is anonymous.

Who is organising and funding the research?

The research has been organized by Shona Herron, a trainee Clinical Psychologist at UCL, under the supervision of Associate Professor Janet Feigenbaum, a Clinical Psychologist and expert in the provision of psychological therapies for those with a personality disorder. The research is funded by University College London. 

What if there is a problem or something goes wrong?

If you have any further questions about the study you may contact the Principal Investigator, Shona Herron at shona.herron.19@ucl.ac.uk. If you have any concerns or a complaint about any aspect of this study, you may email the chief Investigator, Dr Janet Feigenbaum (Associate Professor,Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London) at j.feigenbaum@ucl.ac.uk. Both researchers can be contacted at any time, should you feel that you need further support as a result of this research project.

If you do not deem any complaint to have been handled appropriately, complaints may be escalated by contacting the UCL REC Joint Chairs, at ethics@ucl.ac.uk.

What next?

This study closed in 2021 and we are currently analysing the results. Please follow us on Twitter at @EmptinessPsych and check back on this website to see results when they are available.