We have been asked by Dr Clara Humpston to circulate details of the following study on sensory experiences and sense of self. Clara writes:
My name is Clara Humpston and I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Mental Health, University of Birmingham. I am interested in unusual sensory experiences, such as feeling a presence and hearing or seeing things others cannot, in individuals who have never been diagnosed with a mental health condition and who may never need any kind of mental health care. I am conducting a study that looks at these sensory experiences and how they may influence the ways we construct a coherent sense of self and relationships with our bodies.
The link to the study can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/BodilySelf
Am I eligible to participate?
You are eligible to participate if you are aged between 18-60 years, have normal or corrected to normal vision and hearing and possess a high level of fluency in English. You will not be eligible if you have a current diagnosis of any psychiatric illness, are taking psychotropic medication, experience current illicit substance abuse.
What would I have to do in the study?
For this stage of the study, you will be asked to complete one questionnaire aimed at asking whether you have had any unusual sensory experiences and provide an email address for further contact by the research team where appropriate. Whilst not all participants from Stage 1 will be selected to take part in Stage 2, everyone who completes Stage 1 will be offered to enter a prize draw for a £50 Amazon voucher. If you are not selected for Stage 2, your data will be immediately deleted at the end of the selection process and no further contact will be made.
It is important to note that your participation is entirely voluntary and your decision about participation will not affect your rights in any way, nor will any negative consequence occur if you do not wish to take part. The data collected for this project will be kept strictly confidential and only the researchers linked with this project will have access. You can, of course, withdraw from the study at any point without being penalised in any way. You can also decide to withdraw your data up to one month after participation. More information about the study will be given at the end of the session.
Research ethics:
This study has been fully reviewed and approved by the University Research Ethics Committee (ERN_19-0992); thorough risk assessment and safety precautions are in place so that participants will not be harmed psychologically or physically. The information will be processed by the University of Birmingham in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018. No identifiable personal data will be published.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at any point in the study or afterwards by email. If you wish to raise a formal complaint, the point of contact should be Dr Birgit Whitman (Head of Research Governance and Integrity) who can be contacted by telephone on 0121 415 8011 or email.
Please note that this study is independent from Hearing the Voice. If you have any further queries, you should contact Clara via email.