Christian Attitudes Towards Psychotherapy

Hello,
You are invited to participate in a research project titled, Impact of Christian Beliefs on Attitudes Towards Seeking Psychotherapy. Helen Alvey, Jen Schager, and Ford McCurry are conducting this study under the supervision of Dr. Norah Chapman.

Description: The purpose of this study is to understand how identifying as Christian or endorsing Christian beliefs may affect an individual’s attitude towards seeking psychotherapy. It is unclear from the existing literature how specific Christian beliefs or practices may impact an individual’s attitude or beliefs towards seeking psychotherapy. To our knowledge, no studies have been conducted evaluating such relationships. This study will consist of several brief measures to assess your attitudes towards psychotherapy, religious values, levels of spirituality, tendencies towards depression and anxiety, and coping strategies for difficult situations. This survey should take 25-30 minutes to complete.

Risks/Benefits: There is little to no risk in participating in this study. It is possible that an emotional response may be elicited to some scale as items are read or responses generated. The level of discomfort is judged to be equivalent to encountering these issues in one’s daily life such reading a newspaper article on this subject. While there are no direct benefits to participation, you will be providing information about variables that may impact the way we understand the impact of religion and spirituality on seeking psychological help from traditional psychotherapy.

Voluntary Participation and Right to Withdraw: We will be available to answer your questions throughout the procedure. In addition, you are free to stop participating at any point. Your participation in this research is completely voluntary. You can withdraw from the study at any time without penalty.

Confidentiality: The results of this study will be analyzed in terms of groups of adults. All information obtained, including responses to the survey, will be strictly confidential. Your responses will be used for research purposes only but may be shown to people outside of the research team. Although the data may be shown to individuals outside of the research team, the results will never be associated with a participant’s identifying information.

Please contact Dr. Norah Chapman at [email protected] to request the results of this study or if you have any further questions. Should you have any concerns about your rights as a research volunteer, you can call Dr. Steve Katsikas, Chair of the School of Professional Psychology, at [email protected].

Consent: I am at least 18 years old, I have read this statement, and by clicking “I Agree” below, I consent to participate in the research under the conditions presented.

Thank you very much for your time and support

I Agree