Attention: Students and Recent Graduates:

Of Briercrest Seminary, McGill University, Saint Paul University, Trinity Western University, University of Calgary,

University of Guelph and University of Winnipeg, 

Participants Needed for Research on Graduate Counselling Student Wellbeing During Internships

I am writing to you today to invite you to participate in a study entitled “Wellbeing of Canadian Graduate Counselling Interns: An Exploration of PSE Support.” This study aims to explore the wellbeing of Canadian graduate students in counselling programs during their internship. We are interested in your experiences of wellbeing during your graduate counselling internship. 

This study involves one initial online interview which will be approximately 60-90 minutes, as well as a possible second interview which will be approximately 45-60 minutes. Interviews will occur through the Zoom platform and will be recorded via the Zoom recording feature. During the interview, you may choose to leave your video on or off use a virtual background or change your display name in zoom prior to or during the meeting. Upon completion of the interview, the researcher will use a third-party speech-to-text transcription application (Otter.ai) to transcribe the interview. Please note that all responses transcribed in third party applications will be kept secure, confidential, and anonymous. If you do not consent to the use of a third-party speech-to-text application, please notify the researcher prior to the interview or at any point during the interview and the interview will be transcribed manually by the researcher (not using third-party software). 

If you participate in this study, your identity will be protected. This will be done by using pseudonyms during the data analysis and writing phase. You will be provided the opportunity to review your interview transcription and given the opportunity to correct or modify any information. You will have the right to end your participation in the study at any time, for any reason, up until two weeks after your interview. If you choose to withdraw, all the information you have provided will be destroyed.

All research data, including video and audio recordings, transcripts, consent forms, and any notes will be stored in a password protected folder. The primary investigator (Dr. Squires) and PhD candidate (Carlie Pagens) will be responsible for data collection and have access to identifiable research data. The findings, which will be included in publications and presentations, will be reported in aggregate form (where individuals are not identified) and any individual quotes will be attributed to pseudonyms.

For more information on this study or to confirm your participation in this study, please contact me at carlie.pagens@usask.ca, or you may direct any questions to my supervisor, Vicki Squires at Vicki.squires@usask.ca.

Sincerely,

Carlie Pagens

This research has been cleared by the University of Saskatchewan Research Ethics Board