Participant Information Leaflet for Veterans

Study Title:	UK Veterans from Ethnic Minority Backgrounds
Investigator(s):	Gaby Atfield, Beate Baldauf, Dr Emily Erickson, Andreana Glendinning – Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick; Dr Sally-Anne Barnes - University of Leicester

Introduction

You are invited to take part in a research study. Before you decide, you need to understand why the research is being done and what it would involve for you. Please take the time to read the following information carefully. Talk to others about the study if you wish.

Please ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information. Take time to decide whether or not you wish to take part.

A downloadable version of this information leaflet is available here.

Who is organising and funding the study?

The University of Warwick’s Institute for Employment Research has been commissioned by the Office for Veterans' Affairs to undertake this study.

What is the study about?

As the Armed Forces become more diverse, so does the veteran population, and it is important to develop our understanding of the needs and experiences of veterans from ethnic minority backgrounds to make sure that they receive the support that they need to live in- and contribute to- society.

The project will provide an opportunity for veterans from ethnic minority backgrounds to make their experiences, needs and aspirations known to those who can provide support and bring about the changes necessary to ensure that veterans are not disadvantaged either by their Service or by their ethnic background.

The project involves a survey of veterans from ethnic minority backgrounds from across the UK and follow-up interviews to discuss issues in more depth. We hope to learn more about how veterans from ethnic minority backgrounds experience the transition to civilian life; how they find employment or further education, access housing and manage their finances. We would like to understand the physical and mental health of veterans from ethnic minority backgrounds and how improvements can be supported to enable veterans to engage in their local communities, build relationships and combat social isolation. We will also be talking to those who provide services for veterans to learn from their experience of what works and the challenges they face in providing high quality support.

The findings of the research will be used to put the voices of veterans from ethnic minority backgrounds at the heart of decision-making about the information and services they need, ensuring that support is appropriate and accessible to veterans of all backgrounds.

What would taking part involve?

If you are happy to take part in the study after reading this information sheet, please complete the consent form included below and return to the named researcher who contacted you. At this point, your name, telephone number and email address will be requested for the interview, but this will not be passed on to any third parties: it will be kept securely in a password-protected folder at the University of Warwick for the purposes of the research and will only be accessible to the named researchers. We will then contact you to arrange the interview to ask you about your experiences since leaving the military. The researcher will call you on the date and time agreed.

Interviews should last not more 60 minutes and will be recorded if you agree. Interviews can be undertaken by telephone or MS Teams, so you need to inform the researcher of your preference. Recordings will be stored securely and used by the researcher to write up a detailed summary of your interview and deleted at the end of the project. If you would prefer not to be recorded, the interviewer will take notes during the interview. You can tell us your preference on the consent form.

Do I have to take part?

No. Participation in this study is completely voluntary and choosing not to take part will not affect you in any way. You can also choose to withdraw your participation at the time of the interview or up to 2 weeks after your interview, without giving a reason by contacting one of the research team. Further details about withdrawing from the study are provided later on in this document.

What are the possible benefits of taking part in this study?

Your experience of transitioning to civilian life and the support you accessed will contribute to the evidence we are collecting on behalf of the Office for Veterans Affairs’. The voices of veterans from ethnic minority backgrounds is central to this study. The findings of the research will be used to put provide an evidence base to better understand how information and services aimed at veterans is appropriate and accessible to veterans of all backgrounds. Once published, we would be happy to share the published report with you.

What are the possible disadvantages, side effects or risks, of taking part in this study?

There are no anticipated disadvantages, side effects, risks, and/or discomforts of taking part in this study as the interview focuses solely on your own experiences. However, we understand the challenges that some face when transitioning from the UK armed forces and when in civilian life. If you are upset or distressed when talking to us, please let us know and we can pause or stop the interview. You do not have to answer any question that you feel uncomfortable with or one which may be upsetting. Please just let the interviewer know that you do not wish to answer a particular question and we will move on. We have put together a list of organisations that you can contact at any time to talk through any issues.

• SSAFA – The Armed Forces Charity, www.ssafa.org.uk Forcesline: 0800 260 6767
• Combat Stress, www.combatstress.org.uk Helpline: 0800 138 1619 (24hr telephone line)
• The Samaritans, www.samaritans.org Tel: 116 123
• Mind, www.mind.org.uk Tel: 0300 123 3393
• The Royal British Legion, www.britishlegion.org.uk Legion Line: 0808 802 8080
• Walking with the Wounded, www.walkingwiththewounded.org.uk
• PTSD UK, www.ptsduk.org
• BLESMA (British Limbless Ex Servicemen’s Association), www.blesma.org Tel: 020 8590 1124
• Help for Heroes, www.helpforheroes.org.uk Tel: 0300 303 9888
• Naval Families Federation (NFF), www.nff.org.uk Tel: 02392 654374
• Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, www.rafbf.org Helpline: 0300 102 1919
• Royal Navy Family & People Support (RN FPS) Tel: 0800 145 6088 or 02392 728777

Expenses and payments

There are no expenses or payments available for participating in the interview.

Will my taking part be kept confidential?

We will not report your name or anything that would make you personally identifiable in any outputs from the study and all best endeavours will be made to ensure that data in any publications are pseudonymised. All participants will be given an identifier for the purposes of reporting, and any identifying information will be removed to ensure confidentiality. For example, the outputs may describe interview participants in the following way: ‘Interviewee 1’ or ‘Interviewee 2’. Your interview data will be stored safely in a restricted access folder at the University of Warwick and will only be accessible by the research team. Contact details will not be stored in the same file as your interview data. The IER and its data storage procedures are fully compliant with GDPR. Please see the privacy notice below for more details about the personal data we will collect from you and how it will be used.

What will happen to the data collected about me?

As a publicly-funded organisation, the University of Warwick have to ensure that it is in the public interest when we use personally-identifiable information from people who have agreed to take part in research. This means that when you agree to take part in a research study, such as this, we will use your data in the ways needed to conduct and analyse the research study.

We will be using information from your interview in order to undertake this study and will act as the data controller for this study. We are committed to protecting the rights of individuals in line with data protection legislation. The University of Warwick will keep pseudonymised information about you for 10 years after the study has finished at which time it will be reviewed and deleted if determined it is no longer required.

Research data will be pseudonymised as quickly as possible after data collection. This means all direct and indirect identifiers will be removed from the research data and will be replaced with a participant number. The key to identification will be stored separately and securely to the research data to safeguard your identity.

Data Sharing

Your rights to access, change or move your information are limited, as we need to manage your information in specific ways in order for the research to be reliable and accurate. The University of Warwick has in place policies and procedures to keep your data safe.

This data may also be used for future research, including impact activities following review and approval by an independent Research Ethics Committee and subject to your consent at the outset of this research project.

For further information, please refer to the University of Warwick Research Privacy Notice which is available here: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/idc/dataprotection/privacynotices/researchprivacynotice or by contacting the Legal and Compliance Team at infocompliance@warwick.ac.uk.

What will happen if I don’t want to carry on being part of the study?

Participation in this study is entirely voluntary. Refusal to participate will not affect you in any way. If you do agree to participate, you have the right to withdraw from the study and decline any further contact up to 2 weeks after your interview. If you withdraw from the study more than 2 weeks after your interview, it will not be possible to withdraw your data which have already been collected and anonymised. In order to withdraw, please contact on Gaby Atfield, G.J.Atfield@warwick.ac.uk

To safeguard your rights, we will use the minimum personally-identifiable information possible and keep the data secure in line with the University’s Information and Data Compliance policies.

What will happen to the results of the study?

The results of the study may be published in a final report to the Office for Veterans Affairs’. Peer-reviewed articles may also be prepared for publication in an academic journal. If you do not wish for your data to be included in future research, please indicate this while completing the consent form or let us know at the time of the interview.

Who has reviewed the study?

This study has been reviewed and given favourable opinion by the University of Warwick’s Humanities and Social Science Research Ethics Committee (HSSREC). HSSREC Reference number: HSSREC 152/21-22.

Who should I contact if I want further information?

If you have any questions about any aspect of the study, or your participation in it, not answered by this participant information sheet, please contact, G.J.Atfield@warwick.ac.uk

Who should I contact if I wish to make a complaint?

Any complaint about the way you have been dealt with during the study or any possible harm you might have suffered will be addressed. Please address your complaint to the person below, who is a senior University of Warwick official entirely independent of this study:

Head of Research Governance

Research & Impact Services

University House

University of Warwick

Coventry CV4 8UW

Email: researchgovernance@warwick.ac.uk

Tel: 02476 575733

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter: infocompliance@warwick.ac.uk.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data in a way that is not lawful you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this Participant Information Leaflet