PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET

For Youth Participants

Title of the Research Study: Providing peer-based mental health supports for youth in the
Philippines
Name of Sponsor / Funder / Grant-Provider: Canadian Institutes for Health Research and
Philippine Mental Health Association Inc.

You are being invited to participate in a research study entitled Providing peer-based mental health
services and support for youth in the Philippines. Your participation is voluntary, which means
that you are free to choose whether to participate or not. If you decide not to participate, there will be
no penalty or negative consequences.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY?

This study aims to gain consensus among mental health experts, and youth with experience in
providing or accessing peer support for mental health about the relevant, acceptable and
feasible features or components of peer-based mental health programs and support for
Filipino youth..

WHY AM I BEING ASKED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE STUDY?

You are being asked to join this study because you are a Filipino young person (18 - 25 years old) who
fit any of these criteria:

● With experience in providing or facilitating mental health services for Filipino youth in the
Philippines
● With experience in accessing mental health services

Those who have experience in providing, facilitating or accessing mental health services but are below
18 years old or over 25 years old will not be included because we are interested in the insights of young
people on mental health services and support needed by Filipino youth. Also not excluded are
researchers who have not focused on youth mental health services nor those legislators or policy-
makers not involved in mental health services or policy for the youth.

If you fit these criteria, you are very much invited to participate in this study. There will be
approximately 50 youth participants to be invited to answer the survey.

WHAT WILL I BE ASKED TO DO?

You will be asked to participate in a consensus-generating procedure known as the Delphi process.
Delphi is a research survey technique used to collect data from respondents within their
domain of expertise. Its aim is to deal with divergent opinions or controversial issues to achieve
consensus concerning real-world knowledge on a certain topic. As previously mentioned, we
want to know your opinions about the important, acceptable, and feasible features or
components of peer-based mental health programs and support for Filipino youth.

The over-all procedure will ask you to participate in subsequent rounds of surveys. For this
study, there will be five rounds of surveys including this one which aims to develop the initial
Delphi questionnaire.

For this survey, you will be asked to identify peer-based mental health programs, services and supports
that you know; have provided or accessed or facilitated; have developed; could be developed and
implemented based on existing resources; or could be developed if additional resources are provided.
Based on the responses, we will develop a more structured Delphi questionnaire to gather your
opinions on the importance and acceptability of the different features or components of peer-based
mental health program, services, and support (Round 1). The questionnaire responses will be analyzed
to provide interim results on consensus and non-consensus items. Another questionnaire containing
non-consensus issues and the Round 1 results will be sent out (Round 2). This feedback encourages you
to compare your initial opinions with the group result. The expectation is that outlier responses will be
adjusted and a level of agreement achieved. Round 2 provides further data toward the interim results.

The consensus items will again be presented for you to evaluate their feasibility (Round 3). The
responses will again be analyzed and you will be presented with feedback on the consensus and non-
consensus items in Round 4. This round will ask you to give your final evaluation on the non-consensus
items.

HOW LONG WILL I PARTICIPATE IN THE STUDY?

The entire study will take place over a period of two months (November to December 2023).
Answering this initial survey will take around 20 minutes to complete. The succeeding rounds of
surveys will take approximately the same amount of time.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I CHOOSE NOT TO PARTICIPATE?

Your participation in this study is voluntary. It is up to you whether or not you decide to participate. If
you decide to participate, you will be asked to start completing the survey and this will serve as
indication of your consent. Your consent is time-bound, that is, only for this particular survey . You will
be asked to signify your consent for every subsequent round of survey data collection after this.
Even after you provided consent, you are still free to withdraw at any time and without giving a reason.
There is no penalty or loss of benefits if you decide to withdraw. Should you withdraw from the study
before data collection is completed, your data will not be used for the study.

HOW CAN I WITHDRAW FROM THE STUDY?

If you no longer wish to be part of the research study at any time, simply close the browser or not
submit the questionnaire. But if you want to formally withdraw your data so that the research team will
no longer use it, please contact us via [email protected] to express your formal intent to withdraw.
However, if you decide to withdraw your data after the research has been completed, it will no longer
be possible as only anonymized data will be collected. The data can no longer be traced back to
individual participants.

ARE THERE ANY RISKS IN PARTICIPATING?

As the study is about features or components of mental health programs and support, we do not think
that the questions in this survey may trigger negative emotional reactions or cause discomfort. You may
withdraw your participation at any time if you choose.

WILL THERE BE COSTS TO PARTICIPATING?

Aside from the time that we will ask you to commit to answer the surveys and possibly the internet
connection that is needed to submit the survey, there are no other costs associated with participating in
the study.

WILL I BE COMPENSATED FOR MY PARTICIPATION?

You will get a chance to participate in a raffle after you complete this survey. Ten participants will be
chosen at random to receive the research incentive. The cash value of the research incentive in the
form of a gift certificate/card will be Php 500.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THIS STUDY?

Participating in this study may not benefit you directly; nevertheless, your participation will help shed
light on what features or components of peer-based mental health programs and support are needed by
Filipino youth.. We hope that the information from this study may be used to improve, enhance, and
expand peer-based mental health services and programs, that in turn could lead to the following positive
outcomes: reducing stigma; enhancing access to care; promoting inclusivity; empowering young
individuals and the youth sector; promoting recovery and resilience; informing advocacy and policy
development; and contributing to community well-being. These benefits can have a positive and far-
reaching impact on Filipino youth in particular, and Philippine society as a whole.

HOW WILL CONFIDENTIALITY BE MAINTAINED AND MY DATA BE PROTECTED?

Your responses in this research will be anonymous. Your full name will not appear on any of the
questionnaires, or any information identifying you will not appear in any report or publication of this
research. Only the research team members will know the identity associated with the information
collected for this study, and they will not reveal it to anyone else.

Every effort will be made by the research team to preserve your confidentiality, including the following:

1. Assigning codes/pseudonyms for participants that will be used on all survey questionnaires

2. We will not collect any identifying information (etc. names, occupation)

We will ask for your email address to enable us to send you a secure link to the survey questionnaires
and to send follow-up reminders in case you have not sent in your responses. Also, if you choose to
participate in the raffle for the research incentive, you will be asked to provide your email address.

As this is a research project, the results of the study will be shared and disseminated through research
reports, conference presentations, articles, or publications. In such cases, data will be grouped and
analyzed in aggregate form such that no data can be linked to an individual participant. Lastly, there is a
possibility that an anonymized dataset may be published online (public repository, open science platform,
etc.) available for re-analysis in the future. In this case, no other information about you will be asked
after you have completed your participation.

WILL I BE INFORMED ABOUT THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY?

When this study is complete, you will be invited to a public presentation of the results. You may also be
provided with the research output upon request. You may contact the principal investigator for the
results of the study.

WHO CAN I CONTACT FOR QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS?

If you have questions or concerns regarding the study and your participation in it, contact the Principal
Investigator and/or the research supervisor:

Name of Principal Investigator (PI): Jay A. Yacat

CSSP Ethics Panel Chair: Asst. Prof. Diwa Malaya A. Quiñones, PhD
Email: [email protected]
CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH

Title of project: Providing peer-based mental health supports for children and youth in the
Philippines

Researcher: Jay A. Yacat, R.Psy.

I have been given and have understood an explanation of this research project. I have had an opportunity
to ask questions about the project and have them answered. I know that my participation in this project
is entirely voluntary.

I understand that I can withdraw from answering the survey at any point. I also understand that I may
withdraw any or all of the information I provide any time before the completion of the study without
giving a reason and any negative consequence.

I agree to take part in this research

Signed: .................................................................................................................

Name: ...................................................................................................................
(please print clearly)

Date: .................................................................................................................…

If you have any questions, or wish to know more, please contact me at:

Department of Psychology
University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City
Tel: (632)8928-2728
Email: [email protected]

The Head of Department is: Dr. Louella B.Orillaza, Ph.D,, Department of Psychology, University of the
Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City Tel. (632)8928-2728.