Participant Information Sheet

You are invited to take part in a study.
Before you decide to take part in this study it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. A member of the team can be contacted if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information. Take time to decide whether or not you wish to take part.

Purpose of the study
We are interested in how anxiety, depression, chronic pain and fatigue affect the way we learn. The study aims to understand whether and how people who suffer more from mental health or chronic pain disorders may use different learning strategies in a game where they have to learn to obtain rewards and avoid punishments. We are a research group looking at how learning strategies may contribute to the development of chronic pain. In particular, we want to understand why some people are more vulnerable to chronic pain than others, particularly those with pre-existing anxiety or depression, and if this can be explained by the way they learn. The longer term goal of this study is to help people suffering from chronic pain (which affects 1 in 5 people in Europe) to better cope with their conditions and to improve their wellbeing.

Why have I been chosen?
You have responded to an advert for this study, indicating that you might be interested in taking part.

Do I have to take part?
Taking part is entirely voluntary, and refusal to take part or withdrawal from the study will incur no penalty or loss to yourself, now or in the future. If you decide to take part, you will be asked to sign a Consent Form electronically. You are free to change your mind and leave the study at any time without giving a reason. If after giving consent, during the course of the study you lose the ability to consent, then you and all your identifiable data collected would be withdrawn from the study. Any data which is not identifiable may be retained.

What will happen to me if I take part and what do I have to do?
If you agree to participate in this study you will be directed to the next window, to give your consent electronically.

You will then be given instructions and invited to play an online game, where you will be in charge of a character who is experiencing rewards and punishments. After the game, we may ask whether you would like to participate in the game again on a different day. If you do, you will be invited to play the game again. After the final time you play the game, you will be asked to fill in some questionnaires. These are to assess your self-reported levels of neuropsychiatric symptoms, musculoskeletal pain, and fatigue.

Are there possible disadvantages and/or risks in taking part?
There are no risks to your health from taking part in this study. However, if at any point you feel distressed, you are free to withdraw without needing to give a reason, and/or to contact our research group at painlab-study@eng.cam.ac.uk, and we will provide the help we can and direct you to relevant services if needed.

What are the possible benefits of taking part?
There is no intended benefit to you from taking part in this project. However, we hope that research studies such as these will ultimately lead to developments in the treatment of medical conditions in which anxiety and pain are symptoms. You will receive compensation for your time at a rate of £7.5/hour.

Will my taking part in this project be kept confidential?
All information collected during the study will be kept strictly confidential. All data will be collected anonymously - you will be given a numeric ID that identifies you so that your name or other identifiable information will never be required when filling questionnaires, or other demographic information such as your age, gender, Nationality and employment status. All data will be collected and stored in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulations. For more information on the University of Cambridge's use of your personal data, please see: https://www.information-compliance.admin.cam.ac.uk/data-protection/research-participant-data

What will happen to the results of the research project?
The results of this study will be presented at conferences and written up in journals. Results are normally presented in terms of groups of individuals. If any individual data are presented, the data will be totally anonymous, without any means of identifying the individuals involved.

Who is organising and funding the research?
This research is supported by a grant from the Medical Research Council.

Contact for further information
If you have any questions after reading this information sheet please contact Dr Flavia Mancini (Principal Investigator) or a member of the research team: Computational and Biological Learning Lab, Dept of Engineering, Trumpington St, Cambridge CB2 1PZ. E-mail: painlab-study@eng.cam.ac.uk | Tel: 01223 762456

Thank you for taking the time to consider participating in our research.

The project has received ethical approval from the Engineering Research Ethics Committee of the University of Cambridge.