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Cover Letter 

Invitation to be Part of a Thesis Research Study

You are invited to participate in a research study entitled: 
Exploring the Long-Term Impact: Childhood Sexual Abuse by Family Members Versus Strangers and Its Influence on Intimate Trust in Adulthood

Study Details

•	The purpose of the study is to study the long-term impact of childhood sexual abuse by family members versus strangers and its influence on intimate trust in adulthood. 
•	The anticipated number of participants in the study is 300.
•	Participation is voluntary. You may withdraw at any time without penalty. 
•	There are no alternative procedures aside from withdrawing from the study or skipping any questions you do not wish to answer.
•	If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to:
a.	Complete a demographic questionnaire
b.	Complete the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Sexual Abuse Subscale (5 questions)
c.	   Complete the Familial versus Stranger Questionnaire (2 questions)
d.	Complete the Trust Scale (17 questions) 
•	Participation is expected to take approximately 30 minutes.

Risks/Benefits
•	Participation in this study involves slightly more than minimal risk due to the sensitive nature of the topics discussed. Some questions may be uncomfortable and may trigger emotional distress or reminders of past traumatic experiences related to childhood sexual abuse. You may skip any questions you do not wish to answer and may stop participating at any time without penalty. If you experience distress or feel the need for support during or after participation, you are encouraged to contact a mental health professional you already know, the Barry University Counseling Center at 305-899-3950 or CARE-Center@barry.edu, the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673, or the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, all of which are available 24 hours a day.
•	There are no benefits to engaging in this study. However, it may help in understanding more about the effects on adults of childhood abuse. 

Alternative Procedures / Voluntary Participation
•	Participation in this study is completely voluntary. Choosing not to participate or deciding to withdraw from the study at any time will not affect your grades, academic standing, relationship with faculty, or status in your academic program in any way. 

Anonymity/Confidentiality
•	All participant responses will be collected through an online survey that does not record identifying information such as names, email addresses, or IP addresses.
•	As a research participant, information you provide will be kept anonymous; no names or other identifying information will be collected. Participant responses will be collected using the secure online survey platform PsychData. PsychData is designed to meet or exceed industry standards for Internet security and IRB requirements for the protection of research participants. PsychData utilizes Secure Socket Layer (SSL) 256-bit encryption technology to protect all data transmissions. Data are encrypted at the time of submission and can only be decoded by the target server. PsychData maintains an SSL certificate from VeriSign.
•	IP address collection will be disabled to ensure that responses cannot be linked to individual participants. Upon completion of data collection, all electronic data will be downloaded by the researcher and permanently deleted from the PsychData server.
•	Downloaded data will be stored on a password-protected, encrypted electronic device accessible only to the researcher. Data will be retained indefinitely for research and educational purposes. If data destruction becomes necessary, all electronic files will be permanently deleted using secure deletion methods to ensure that the data cannot be recovered.

Use of Data in the Future
•	The data, with identifiers removed, may also be used in future research or distributed to another investigator without additional informed consent.  

Contact Information if You Have Questions about the Research or Your Rights as a Research Participant

•	Principal Investigator: Sophia Hadash, Graduate Student of the Clinical Psychology program at 248-980-6465, sophia.hadash@mymail.barry.edu 
•	Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Linda L. Bacheller at lbacheller@barry.edu 
•	IRB point of contact: Ms. Anoush McNamee at 305-899-3020, amcnamee@barry.edu

Consent
If you are willing to participate in this research, please signify your consent by clicking the “Yes” button below.

This has been approved by Barry University IRB #2397849-2



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Gender

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Ethnicity

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Years of Education

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Relationship Status

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DEMOGRAPHICS

Instructions:
Please read each statement carefully and select the number that best describes how often the statement was true for you during childhood. Your responses are confidential and will only be used for research purposes.


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1. Someone tried to touch me in a sexual way or tried
to make me touch them.


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2. Someone threatened to hurt me or tell lies about me
unless I did something sexual with them.


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3. Someone tried to make me do sexual things or watch
sexual things.


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4. Someone molested me.

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5. I believe that I was sexually abused.

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Childhood Trauma Questionnaire

Familial versus Stranger Questionnaire
Instructions:
For the following questions, please indicate whether the experience of abuse involved a stranger or a family member. Select “Yes” if the statement applies to you, or “No” if it does not. Your responses are confidential and will only be used for research purposes.


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1. I was abused by a stranger.


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2. I was abused by a family member.


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Familial versus Stranger Questionnaire

Instructions:
Using the 7-point scale shown below‚ indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements as they relate to someone with whom you have a close interpersonal relationship. Your responses are confidential and will only be used for research purposes.


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1. My partner has proven to be trustworthy and I am willing to let him/her engage in
activities which other partners find too threatening.

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2. Even when I don’t know how my partner will react, I feel comfortable telling
him/her anything about myself, even those things of which I am ashamed.

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3. Though times may change and the future is uncertain, I know my partner will
always be ready and willing to offer me strength and support.

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4.  I am never certain that my partner won’t do something that I dislike or will
embarrass me.

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5. My partner is very unpredictable. I never know how he/she is going to act from one
day to the next.

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6. I feel very uncomfortable when my partner has to make decisions which will affect
me personally.

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7. I have found that my partner is unusually dependable, especially when it comes to
things which are important to me.

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8. My partner behaves in a very consistent manner.

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9. Whenever we have to make an important decision in a situation we have never
encountered before, I know my partner will be concerned about my welfare.

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10. Even if I have no reason to expect my partner to share things with me, I still
feel certain that he/she will.

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11. I can rely on my partner to react in a positive way when I expose my weaknesses
to him/her.

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12. When I share my problems with my partner, I know he/she will respond in a
loving way even before I say anything.

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13. I am certain that my partner would not cheat on me, even if the opportunity arose
and there was no chance that he/she would get caught.

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14. I sometimes avoid my partner because he/she is unpredictable and I fear saying or
doing something which might create conflict.

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15. I can rely on my partner to keep the promises he/she makes to me.

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16. When I am with my partner, I feel secure in facing unknown new situations.

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17. Even when my partner makes excuses which sound rather unlikely, I am confident
that he/she is telling the truth.

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Trust Scale - Trust within Close Interpersonal Relationships

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Exploring the Long-Term Impact: Childhood Sexual Abust by Family Members versus Strangers and Its Influence on Intimate Trust in Adulthood