Purpose and Design
The purpose of this survey is to investigate the role of spirituality (e.g., relationship with God or higher power) in coping with stress that you are currently experiencing in your relationship with a significant other or partner. We are interested in the following two groups of participants for this study: 1) individuals with a history of childhood sexual abuse and 2) individuals who do not have a history of childhood abuse.

Study Prodedures
This is a questionnaire study that you can complete in the comfort of your own home on this website. There are 11 inventories which ask about: demographic factors (e.g., age), the nature of your childhood sexual abuse (if applicable), how you cope with current interpersonal stress, personal attitudes, spirituality, forgiveness, social support, emotional well-being and your sense of satisfaction in your partner relationship. The website is designed so that when you finish one inventory and continue to the next, your responses are submitted directly to the database server. Please note that you can skip any questions that you do not feel comfortable answering.

Length of Study
Your participation in this study will take anywhere from 30-60 minutes depending on how quickly you move through the material.

Possible Risks
Since the questionnaires do involve items of a personal nature about how you are feeling and coping with current life event stress as well as your past abuse (if applicable) minimal emotional discomfort may occur. If you experience any discomfort or have any inquiries about the questionnaires, do not hesitate to contact the principal investigator, Dr. Terry Lynn Gall (tgall@ustpaul.ca). If you so request and live in the Ottawa region, Dr. Gall can provide you with a list of counseling services or other services in the community. Remember, you do not have to complete this questionnaire.

Benefits of the Study
Although you may not receive direct benefit from participation in this study, you will be providing information that could help in the future development of counseling interventions for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

Confidentiality
To ensure anonymity we will provide you with a unique identifier which will protect your identity. This identifier will allow us to match up your inventories as they are submitted. We ask that you do not enter your name on the questionnaire. The data submitted to the database server by you will not include any information that can be used to identify you including the IP (internet protocol) address of your computer. To ensure confidentiality, the data on the server can only be accessed by an encrypted code known by the researchers. All data will eventually be downloaded in files and stored in a locked area at Saint Paul University. To comply with ethics regulations, this data has to be stored for a period of five years after the publication of the study results after which it will be appropriately destroyed. Data will be reported as group results in any publications or presentations and so your personal information will not be identifiable.

Voluntary Participation
Your participation in this study is completely voluntary. You are under no obligation to participate in this study and you can choose not to participate by exiting the website at any time. Any partial data that is collected will be destroyed.

Questions about the Study
This research is being conducted by Dr. Terry Lynn Gall, associate professor in the Faculty of Human Sciences, Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (613-236-1393 x.2279). The principal investigator, Dr. Gall can be reached at her email address: tgall@ustpaul.ca if you have any questions and/or concerns about this study. If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, you can contact Ming Zhang, Director of Research Services, Saint Paul University at: mzhang@ustpaul.ca.

Consent
The completion and submission of this web-based questionnaire will indicate your full consent to participate in this study.

Thank You for your participation

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