Participant Information Sheet

The UK Healthcare Worker Period Equity Study

Participant Information Sheet

You are being invited to participate in a research study. Before you decide if you wish to take part, it is important that you understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully and if you would like more information or if there is anything that you do not understand, please contact us using the contact information below. Please also feel free to discuss with others if you wish.

What is the purpose of the study?

The study is being conducted by Dr Josie Cheetham, in collaboration with, and under the supervision of Professor Johann Malawana at the University of Lancashire.

The aim of this study is to better understand the experiences of healthcare workers (any individual who works within an appointed healthcare role) in the UK who menstruate or have periods within their training and workplaces relating to period/menstrual products. Through this, it is hoped that the positives, challenges and inequities existing within these experiences will be gathered. This will be alongside exploring whether there are aspects of being a healthcare worker that might influence your workplace period or menstruation experiences. Furthermore, it is hoped to determine whether there is a need for provision of freely accessible period/menstrual products within healthcare workplaces for staff need. This will help the researcher and stakeholders, such as NHS leaders and politicians approached by the researcher, to consider whether work to achieve nationwide healthcare worker period product workplace supplies needs to be invested in.

Why have I been invited to take part?

You are eligible and invited to take part in this survey if you are a healthcare worker within the UK who is aged 18 or above and has periods or menstruates. This includes if you have entered the perimenopause and have had a period/menstruated within the 18 months whilst working in healthcare. You do not need to identify with a particular gender to take part in this survey if you have periods or menstruate.

You should not take part in this study if you are located outside the UK (United Kingdom) or are under 18 years of age or have never had periods. You should also not take part in this study if you entered the menopause with your last period more than 19 months ago or last menstruating at a time before becoming a healthcare worker.

You are being invited to take part in this study because you have either expressed an interest in this study by responding to our social media advert, or you are receiving an invitation to participate because an organisation that you are associated with has agreed to forward information to you about this study on the research team’s behalf.

To be eligible to take part in the study participants need to meet the following criteria:

• Currently employed as an Healthcare Worker (HCW) within the NHS in the UK

• Is a person who menstruates/has periods

• Aged 18 years or above.

• Is able to provide informed consent to participate

You will be ineligible to take part in the study if you are:

·      Unable provide consent

·      Less than 18 years of age

·      Not a HCW within the NHS in the UK

·      Not a HCW who menstruates/has periods

What will happen if I take part?

The study involves taking part in an online questionnaire, which will be completed anonymously. The questionnaire asks 50 optional, multiple choice or short answer questions exploring your experiences of having periods/menstruating within your UK-based healthcare workplace. A smaller number of these are stem questions which, depending on your answer, may provide you with one or two further questions you can choose to answer. This is alongside 10 broad ‘demographic’ questions such as your profession, working pattern or gender identity designed to avoid personal identification/deanonymisation. The questionnaire, based on pilots, should take, on average, under 10 minutes to complete (range between five and 15 minutes), depending on your answers and how much information you choose to share. Before you complete the questionnaire, you will be asked to read and consent to a series of statements before proceeding.

If you are interested in taking part, you can please download a copy of this participant information sheet here and retain this for your records before starting the questionnaire.

You can also supply your email address via a further, separate form if you wish to be entered into the gratitude draw, with your chance to win a £25 Amazon voucher by taking part and completing the survey. Therefore, your survey responses will be fully separated from your email address if you do submit this in order to enter the gratitude draw.

Do I have to take part?

You do not need to take part in this study – it is voluntary and for you to decide whether or not to take part. This information sheet has been designed to help you decide whether you would like to take part in the study or not.

If you do decide to take part and find that you do not wish to answer one or more questions, we have included a ‘prefer not to say’ option for each question set. Choosing this option will not be questioned, you will not need to provide a reason why or in any way justify your decision.

Additionally, you are free and able to withdraw (stop taking part) from the study at any time during data collection (survey completion) prior to pressing ‘submit’ at the end of the survey questions. You will be able to withdraw at any point for any reason before submitting your answers by closing the questionnaire browser window. You do not need to provide a reason for withdrawing. You will not be penalised in any way for doing so.

If you do wish your answers to be counted within the study but find that you are unable to answer all the questions or complete to the end, you can toggle forward to the last page of the survey and press ‘submit’. By pressing the ‘submit’ button at the end of the survey, your responses will be used during data analysis. If you close the window without pressing ‘submit’, your answers will not be counted.

Following closure of the data collection stage if you have included clearly identifiable details within your submitted responses or you can recount the exact date and time of your submission, you may still be able to withdraw from the study and submitted information removed by contacting the researcher Dr Laura (Josie) Cheetham. If you have submitted your email address (voluntarily) within the main survey answers you can apply any time up to the beginning of data analysis (closure of the survey) to withdraw from the study and your responses will be removed and discarded.

The predicted end date for data collection (closure of the survey) is currently set for two months (eight weeks) after opening of the survey, 24th October 2025 with a projected end date of 24th December 2025. This date may be extended depending on the amount of data collected, for example up to 20 weeks (five months).

Any change of date will be clearly advertised on social media via the SOS Box BlueSky accounts and Dr Laura (Josie) Cheetham’s LinkedIn account alongside the SOS box initiative website here. Please note that this website has no external funding, grant or sponsorship.

You will have up until the 24th December 2025 to decide on whether you want to take part, after this date the questionnaire will close unless the surveying period is extended. Any extension will be clearly advertised via the channels outlined above

How will my data be used?

We will not collect or process any personal data. All data you provide will be completely anonymous, which means that no-one could use any reasonable means to identify you from the data.

The questionnaires will be downloaded from Jisc Surveys and the answers you provide will be held securely and will be password encrypted and stored in a password-protected electronic file on the University of Lancashire’s secure servers.

The answers that you provide will be accessible to the researcher Dr Laura (Josie) Cheetham for analysis, with oversight from supervisor, Professor Johann Malawana.

The responses will be kept for seven years and then destroyed, in line with University policy.

If you choose to be entered into the Amazon voucher draw, your email address will be used to securely identify you during the draw and then this information (your email address details) will be destroyed. These email addresses will be collected and held via the secure JISC survey platform. A ‘ticket in a hat’ approach will be taken, with tickets with each number equivalent to the email addresses within the tabulated JISC survey data will be mixed within a bowl or hat and ticket randomly selected. This will equate to a certain email address.

This method has been chosen to keep your email address details as secure as possible. This lottery will take place within one week of the closing date of the survey, 24th December 2025, and the recipient of the prize contacted – the email addresses will then be deleted from the secure JISC survey data store.

Are there any risks in taking part?

Possible disadvantages and risks related to taking part in this study will vary by individual, so it is important to consider your own specific context. If you feel that answering questions about experiences of having periods at work would be too distressing, we advise you not to take part. You can choose not to answer any question that you feel very uncomfortable with.

For example, disadvantages could include a risk of remembering and revisiting experiences or situations which were, and/or still are difficult, distressing, stressful or otherwise uncomfortable. Sources of support will be signposted to at the beginning and end of the survey and are also listed within this information sheet. These will range from sources of wellbeing support designed for healthcare workers, to potential sources of support relating to financial and periods/menstrual challenges and period product provision where possible.

Another disadvantage is that this survey will consume a certain amount of your time, which will vary by individual. The estimated time to complete this survey based on trials has been outlined within this sheet to help inform and allow you to decide if you wish to take part.

There is a small, potential risk to there being possible loss of confidentiality at the data entry stage if you were to include your personal details. However, all data will be carefully screened and cleaned to avoid loss of/ to maintain anonymity during the data analysis and reporting stages.

Are there any benefits from taking part?

We cannot with certainty outline the specific, personal direct benefits to you individually. However, we hope that collectively, participation and responses may lead to a better understanding about period equity for healthcare staff within their workplaces.

Other potential benefits of taking part in this research study are related to contributing to building understanding of period/menstrual-based experiences within healthcare workplaces. This may help contribute to raising awareness of any positive or negative experiences, unmet needs and barriers to equity of opportunity publicly including to healthcare employers and healthcare leaders.

Through taking part in this study, your contribution may possibly then help to catalyse addressing of any areas of need or challenge identified relating to periods/menstruating at work for the healthcare worker community, which includes you.

You also have the chance to win a £25 Amazon voucher by choosing to enter the ‘gratitude’ draw following completion of the survey.

What will happen to the results of the study?

Your data will be analysed and combined with all other participant information. It is planned that the results from the research will be used (anonymously) in part or fully within:

o   Any briefing documents and other materials for stakeholders such as NHS leaders or politicians or any applicable credible media approaches

o   Any peer reviewed publication successfully accepted by a journal

o   Any conference presentations or posters, if accepted by the conference organisers

o   The SOS box initiative’s website (www.thesosbox.org)

o   Possibly through select social media channels: BlueSky SOS box initiative and LinkedIn

What will happen if I want to stop taking part?

As this study is completely anonymous it is not possible to withdraw your data once you have submitted your responses. When you select “Submit Questionnaire” at the bottom of the last page, the data will be submitted. Up until this point, you can stop at any time by closing the survey window (without selecting the ‘Submit Questionnaire’ button on the last page) and data provided to that point will not be saved.

Who has reviewed this study?

The study has been reviewed and approved by the Health Ethics Review Panel at the University of Lancashire [HEALTH 01277].

What if I am unhappy or if there is a problem?

If you are unhappy, or if there is a problem, please feel free to let us know by contacting Dr Johann Malawana via JNLMalawana@uclan.ac.uk and we will try to help. If you remain unhappy or have a complaint which you feel you cannot come to us with, then please contact the Ethics, Integrity and Governance Unit at the University of Lancashire via OfficerforEthics@uclan.ac.uk.

Who can I contact if I have further questions?

Dr Laura (Josie) Cheetham via JCheetham3@lancashire.ac.uk