ETHICS

The need for ethical consideration to be given to human subjects of research came about following the Second World War. This was followed by the Declaration of Helsinki (World Medical Association, 1965) which laid out ethical principles for medical research. As a study that involved human research, ethics approval was required so as to ensure the research was conducted to a high standard “acting in the right spirit, out of an abiding respect and concern for one’s fellow creatures” (National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, & Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee, 2007).

A University of Tasmania Social Sciences Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) Full Committee Application was made in June 2012. The application covered issues of informed consent, confidentiality, minimising risk and data management and anonymity of participants. The Committee requested minor revisions to the application, such as research justification for a number of the questions within the questionnaire. The requested revisions were made and the revised application was approved (No. H0012567) on 25th _{July 2012.} Appendix T provides a copy of the Full Ethics Application Approval. The approval constituted

ethical clearance with regard to the recruitment of participants through third parties, peak bodies and organisations, newsletter notice boards, articles and poster. It governed informed consent, confidentiality of participant, minimising risk to participants, entering private homes of interviewees, retelling of personal experiences in some case of physical, mental and emotional illness, risk benefits, what involvement required, the right to withdraw from the study, details of who to contact if concerned about study, reading and signing the consent form as well as explanations regarding the confidentiality of date and its protection.

3.11.1 Informed Consent

In accordance with the Ethics Approval, the study involved obtaining informed consent from the participants. Integral to the principle of informed consent is that,

… individuals should not be coerced, or persuaded, or induced, into research against their will, but their participant should be based on voluntarism, and on a full understanding of the implications of participation (J. Green & Thorogood, 2013, p. 69).

Participants in stage one of the study were provided with clearly written information regarding the study and participants in Stage Two were provided with a verbal and written explanation of the study. The information delivered included an explanation of the aims of the research, procedures, benefits, risks, and fully explained the right to withdraw from the study and what to do in the event that a participant did not want to continue with the study. The informed consent information is provided in Appendix G.

All participants were asked to read the information provided and invited to ask any questions of clarification prior to participating in the research. In the first stage of the

research respondents to the survey who had not checked the consent box were excluded from the analysis.

3.11.2 Confidentiality

Ensuring the anonymity and confidentiality of participants in research was imperative as the subject matter in several cases involved the participants disclosing sensitive personal information particularly in regards to their mental health. Survey Monkey was selected for the delivery of the first stage of the research as it provided an encrypted secure sockets layer (SSL) and transport layer security (TLS) connection. Both SSL and TLS enable private information to be transmitted via the Internet by the encryption of information. Survey Monkey provides added security, as it is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) (USA) and as such meets national and international standards for the storage and transfer of personal information.

The Survey Monkey account was password-protected and Survey Monkey automatically assigned a number to participants. All downloaded data was kept on a password-protected computer and hard copies in a securely locked filing cabinet in the University’s Department of Rural Health.

3.11.3 Participant Feedback

At the conclusion of the analysis phase of Stage One of the research, all participants were sent a letter (provided in Appendix O) thanking them for their involvement in the study, and providing them with further information on the overall results of the first stage of the study and their scores for each of the survey instruments. The letter outlined the four measures, what they were designed for and what they measured, details of the maximum score that

could be gained for the measure and an explanation of what the scores meant. The mean score for the study in addition to the normative mean scores for men and women were provided, as well as the participant’s score for each measure. Participants were invited to contact the researcher to discuss any aspect of this study or their scores. In keeping with ethical requirements, participants were also advised that if any of the information contained in the letter caused any emotional distress or concern and if they required support to contact and speak with their general practitioner or call Beyond Blue or Lifeline. Beyond Blue is an independently run Australian organisation that works to “increase awareness and understanding of anxiety and depression” by providing 24 hour national support lines (Beyond Blue, 2015). Lifeline is a national organisation providing “twenty four hour crisis support and suicide prevention services” (Lifeline, 2010).

Feedback from participants on their involvement in the research was received on five occasions. Four participants wrote expressing their interest in the research. One participant wrote, “… you’ve presented your results clearly, so what did you learn from this? Are you going to write this up?” and another wrote, “I would also like to invite you into the bush on this sacred mountain where I live … where connectedness is high and anxiety is low!” (Respondent, 2013).

One participant wrote expressing concerns about the study and requested to withdraw from the study. The participant’s concerns were taken to the supervisors of the researcher and discussed at length. An appropriate resolution was discussed and the researcher wrote to the participant explaining the study in more detail and the process for identifying climate state anxiety. The participant was informed that in accordance with Ethics Approval they

were free to withdraw from the research and thanked for his participation and time. No further communication was received from the participant.

3.12

Chapter Summary

This chapter outlined the research approach by locating the researcher and providing the theoretical and methodological approach to the study, as well as the epistemological position of the researcher. The use of mixed methods was outline and justification for its use given. The chapter then stepped the reader through the procedure for identifying the Study Areas, and provided a description of the demography and climate or the Study Areas, sample populations and selection of participants.

Sections 3.7 and 3.8 provided an introduction to the quantitative approach and a description and validation of the psychological measures used to assess connectedness to nature, relatedness to nature and climate state and trait anxiety. The survey delivery mechanism, opening and closing times, data analysis process and follow up with participants were explained.

Section 3.9 commenced the discussion on the qualitative approach to the research by outlining the tradition of storytelling as a form of narrative and the process of Climate Witnessing as the basis for the interview design. The selection, recruitment and interview process is discussed as well as the method and procedure for capturing the essence of the interview transcripts and the analysis process. The remainder of the chapter addressed ethical issues of the research including informed consent, confidentiality and the participant feedback. Chapter Four introduces the findings from the qualitative stage of the research.

Chapter 4: Connectedness and Relatedness to Nature and Climate State Anxiety in Rural Tasmania159 | P a g e

Chapter 4:Connectedness and Relatedness to the Nature and