Regarding the informed consent question:

I am conducting a study on health literacy among substance abusers in 
treatment.  I developed an informed consent form using plain language and 
am going to be reading it and explaining it to the participants.  We are 
in the beginning stages of the project and are going to be recruiting 
participants within the next 3-4 weeks, so I don't know how well my 
informed consent document will go over.  I would be happy to share my 
experiences once I have a feel for how the consent process is going. 
However, I did use very simple language, replacing typical informed 
consent terms like "consent to participate" and "minimal risk" with "I say 
yes to being in the study" and "I understand that this study is not going 
to hurt me and I can quit if I want to."  I hope that the plain language, 
along with careful explanation and conversation, will suffice.  I'd be 
interested in knowing how others have handled informed consent documents 
in their research.

All the best,
Monica

Monica C. Skewes, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate
Research Institute on Addictions
University at Buffalo
The State University of New York
1021 Main Street
Buffalo, New York 14203
716-887-2242 (phone)
716-887-2510 (fax)
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