Volunteers newly diagnosed with MS needed for exercise-cognition study

[ActiveMSers]

Call for Participants with Multiple Sclerosis

Have you been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis for 2 years or less? Are you older than 18 years of age? If the answers to all these questions are yes, investigators at the University of Alabama invite you to take part in a voluntary study ‘Social Cognitive Correlates of Physical Activity in Adults with Multiple Sclerosis in the United States.’ What will you do? You will be asked to complete questionnaires about your health beliefs and physical activity. Why is this research important? Previous research reports significant relationships between social cognitive variables such as social support, self-regulation, motivation and physical activity in adults from the general population. This study is a novel investigation of various social cognitive factors that may be associated with levels of physical activity in persons with MS. What’s in it for me? You will be helping researchers at the University of Alabama by providing invaluable feedback that will be used to help inform future multi-level physical activity interventions for persons with MS. If you are interested in completing this survey, please click this link: https://uab.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/fo...wRZy1IatWRf1wF, or email Trinh (Lexi) Huynh at enrl@uabmc.edu.

[ActiveMSers]

Title of Research:Barriers and Facilitators of Long Term Exercise Behavior in Adults with Multiple Sclerosis

Principal Investigator: Robert W. Motl PhD

UAB IRB Protocol Number: 300003486-001

Sponsor: N/A

Purpose of the Research:
We are asking you to take part in a research study. The purpose of this research study is to understand long-term exercise behavior in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis for two years or less. We hope that 800 people across the United States complete these questionnaires.

Explanation of Procedures:
In this study, you will complete a questionnaire asking about your exercise and health habits that will take 35-50 minutes. If you begin and want to finish later, you are able to save your answers and come back to finish the questionnaires for up to one week (7 days).

Risk and Discomforts:
There is a risk of breach of confidentiality when you participate in research. This means that someone may be able to find out that you completed these questionnaires. We do everything to protect your answers and personal information including storing your answers with a numerical code instead of your name. There is also a chance that you may feel sad or uncomfortable with some of the questions. You are able to skip the questions if you do not want to answer them.

Benefits:
There are no direct benefits to you for participating in this study, but you are helping us understand exercise and help us create programs to increase exercise in persons with MS in the early stage (two years or less since diagnosis).

Alternatives:
You can choose not to participate in this study.

Confidentiality:
Information obtained about you for this study will be kept confidential to the extent allowed by law. However, research information that identifies you may be shared with people or organizations for quality assurance or data analysis, or with those responsible for ensuring compliance with laws and regulations related to research. They include:

• the UAB Institutional Review Board (IRB). An IRB is a group that reviews the study to protect the rights and welfare of research participants.
• the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP)

The information from the research may be published for scientific purposes; however, your identity will not be given out.

Qualtrics software is encrypted. This means it protects the information you choose to enter into it. Your answers will be matched with a numerical code. There will be no way to match the code with your name. Your approval to participate and question answers will be confidential and stored on the Qualtrics website until the end of the study. At that time, responses will be downloaded onto a secured University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) server.

Voluntary Participation and Withdrawal
You can choose to participate or not to participate in this study. There is no penalty if you decide not to be in this study. You are free to withdraw at any time. Your choice to stop the study will not affect your relationship with the researchers or UAB.

Cost of Participation
There is no cost to you to participate in this study.

Payment for Participation in Research
There is no payment to participate in this study.

Questions
If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints about the research, please contact Dr. Robert Motl at (205) 934-5905 or robmotl@uab.edu. If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, or concerns or complaints about the research, you may contact the UAB Office of the IRB (OIRB) at (205) 934-3789 or toll-free at 1-855-860-3789. Regular office hours at the OIRB are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday.