Gentle Warriors Academy Participant Consent
INTRODUCTION
You are invited to be part of the Fathers Incorporated’s (FI) Gentle Warriors Academy (GWA)Project. The GWA project is created by Father’s Incorporated to help low income fathers in the greater Atlanta region incorporate practices and behaviors for managing the responsibilities of being parents/co-parents and partners through (1) responsible parenting, (2) healthy marriage/relationships, and (3) economic stability activities through a 40-hr/10-week cohort-based approach. The Gentle Warriors Academy program is designed to support disadvantaged fathers in the community successfully identify and overcome their obstacles in managing healthy family relationships through workshop instruction, peer discussions and exercises designed to build knowledge, and skills in core areas of responsible fatherhood
WHAT IS INVOLVED in the Gentle Warriors Academy Program
In the Gentle Warriors Academy Program evaluation study, we want to answer the question, “To what extent does the delivery of GWA Project services enhance the parenting and co- partner relationship skills of low-income fathers?”. Over a 40 - hour, 10 week period the Gentle Warriors Academy program will provide services through workshop instruction and through GWA’s coordinated case management process and wrap-around services. There will be an estimated 630 individuals enrolled in the program over 5 years. Should you decide to participate in this study you will be asked some questions about yourself and your background. All participants of the GWA program will be provided with 40 hours of workshop instruction and ancillary support through case management and mentoring. Participants enrolled will be provided specific services intended to:
1. Promote or Sustain Healthy Marriage through GWA’s healthy marriage/relationships education through GWA’s evidence-informed curricula, Next Level Fatherhood and Next Level Life Skills.
2. Improve responsible parenting skill-building education and services through parent-related program activities
based on the Next Level Fatherhood curriculum, which targets and helps fathers develop the
skillset needed to achieve personal goals and our program objectives.
3. Support Economic Stability through the GWA’s Next Level Fatherhood Curriculum which helps participants improve
their economic status through skill building that focuses on writing resumes, searching for
employment, and best practices for interviewing. This will be additionally supported by referrals to work force development trainings and job fairs.
At various times between today’s enrollment and one-year after you complete the GWA program, participants will be asked to complete six service-intake assessments (i.e., Level of Service/Case Management Inventory; Behaviors and Experiences Inventory; Work Readiness Assessment; Primary Colors Personality Test; and Benefits Calculator) and evaluation surveys, which include three developed by Mathematica Policy Research for the federal funding agency that are part of the Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management System (nFORM) and three that have been developed by Midwest Evaluation and Research. Each survey should take between 30-45 minutes to complete. The following list briefly describes the types of information asked.
1. Healthy Marriage (Relationship Education) /Responsible Fatherhood Applicant Characteristics Survey (nFORM) During your enrollment for services you completed an Applicant Characteristics survey, which asked questions about your age, race, ethnicity, preferred language, education, employment, financial well-being, current living situation, family status, and health.
2. Responsible Fatherhood Program for Community-Based Fathers Pre-Program Survey and Post-Program Survey (nFORM) If you choose to enroll in the study, the Pre-Program Survey will be completed after signing this consent form. The Post-Program Survey will be completed during the last session of workshops. You will be asked to answer questions about parenting and co-parenting, interaction with your child/ children and spouse/ partner/ baby’s mother, economic stability, relationships/ marriage, and personal development.
3. MER-Fathers Incorporated Participant Pre-Survey, Post-Enrollment Survey, and 1-year Post-Enrollment Survey If you enroll in the evaluation study, the Pre-Survey will be administered during your orientation. The Post-Survey will be administered during your last workshop session. And, approximately one-year after enrollment in the program, you will be asked to answer questions about parenting and family interactions, co-parenting and relationship beliefs and behaviors, financial beliefs, employment beliefs, and case management and program interaction.
The evaluators may stop the Gentle Warriors Academy (GWA) Project evaluation study or take you out of the Project at any time if they determine it is in your best interest. They can do this without your consent. Your part of the GWA Project evaluation study will conclude approximately twelve months after you complete your final core curriculum session.
PAYMENT TO PARTICIPANT
Participants will be eligible for the following incentives upon completion of core curriculum workshop sessions as defined below:
· $50 Walmart gift after the completion of the 12-month follow-up survey.
RISKS
We do not anticipate that the Gentle Warriors Academy will involve any physical or non-physical risks, but there may be risks that we cannot predict.
CONFIDENTIALITY
We respect the confidentiality of the information you share with us and will make every effort to keep it confidential and to protect it from unauthorized disclosure, tampering, or damage. The evaluation team will follow strict rules to protect your privacy as well as all information you share in the service-intake assessments and the evaluation surveys. All individuals who work on GWA evaluation study are trained to protect confidential information and have signed a confidentiality pledge. Any papers that include your name or other identifying information will be kept in a locked area and any computer files with your name will be protected by a password. Your name will never be used in any report written for the GWA. However, please keep in mind that we will have to report to the authorities if you tell any team members about someone being harmed or that you want to harm someone. Also, we may have to give up information about you if a court orders us to do so.
YOUR RIGHTS as a PARTICIPANT
Participation in the GWA evaluation study is voluntary. You have the right not to participate at all or to leave the Project at any time. Deciding not to participate or choosing to leave the GWA will not result in any penalty or loss of benefits to which you are entitled.
CONTACTS for QUESTIONS or PROBLEMS
If you have questions about the GWA Project, any problems, unexpected physical or psychological discomforts, any injuries, or think that something unusual or unexpected is happening you may contact Dr. Matthew Shepherd at phone: (620) 208-6143 or email: Matt.Shepherd@MidwestEvaluation.com or Lila Balla at phone: (314) 827-5452 or email: Lila.Balla@MidwestEvaluation.com. If you have any questions or concerns about your rights as a GWA participant you should contact Solutions IRB (the body that oversees our protection of study participants) at (855) 226-4472 or participants@solutionsirb.com.
CONSENT of PARTICIPANT to PARTICIPATE in the GENTLE WARRIORS ACADEMY PROJECT
By creating your GWA Community username and password, you acknowledge you are giving your permission to take part in the GWA explained above. You are not giving up any legal rights by creating a profile and taking part in the GWA. You may print a copy of this Participation Consent document to keep.
Funding for this project was provided by the Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Grant: # HHS-2020-ACF-OFA-ZJ-1846. These services are available to all eligible persons, regardless of race, gender, age, disability, or religion.
INTRODUCTION
You are invited to be part of the Fathers Incorporated’s (FI) Gentle Warriors Academy (GWA)Project. The GWA project is created by Father’s Incorporated to help low income fathers in the greater Atlanta region incorporate practices and behaviors for managing the responsibilities of being parents/co-parents and partners through (1) responsible parenting, (2) healthy marriage/relationships, and (3) economic stability activities through a 40-hr/10-week cohort-based approach. The Gentle Warriors Academy program is designed to support disadvantaged fathers in the community successfully identify and overcome their obstacles in managing healthy family relationships through workshop instruction, peer discussions and exercises designed to build knowledge, and skills in core areas of responsible fatherhood
WHAT IS INVOLVED in the Gentle Warriors Academy Program
In the Gentle Warriors Academy Program evaluation study, we want to answer the question, “To what extent does the delivery of GWA Project services enhance the parenting and co- partner relationship skills of low-income fathers?”. Over a 40 - hour, 10 week period the Gentle Warriors Academy program will provide services through workshop instruction and through GWA’s coordinated case management process and wrap-around services. There will be an estimated 630 individuals enrolled in the program over 5 years. Should you decide to participate in this study you will be asked some questions about yourself and your background. All participants of the GWA program will be provided with 40 hours of workshop instruction and ancillary support through case management and mentoring. Participants enrolled will be provided specific services intended to:
1. Promote or Sustain Healthy Marriage through GWA’s healthy marriage/relationships education through GWA’s evidence-informed curricula, Next Level Fatherhood and Next Level Life Skills.
2. Improve responsible parenting skill-building education and services through parent-related program activities
based on the Next Level Fatherhood curriculum, which targets and helps fathers develop the
skillset needed to achieve personal goals and our program objectives.
3. Support Economic Stability through the GWA’s Next Level Fatherhood Curriculum which helps participants improve
their economic status through skill building that focuses on writing resumes, searching for
employment, and best practices for interviewing. This will be additionally supported by referrals to work force development trainings and job fairs.
At various times between today’s enrollment and one-year after you complete the GWA program, participants will be asked to complete six service-intake assessments (i.e., Level of Service/Case Management Inventory; Behaviors and Experiences Inventory; Work Readiness Assessment; Primary Colors Personality Test; and Benefits Calculator) and evaluation surveys, which include three developed by Mathematica Policy Research for the federal funding agency that are part of the Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management System (nFORM) and three that have been developed by Midwest Evaluation and Research. Each survey should take between 30-45 minutes to complete. The following list briefly describes the types of information asked.
1. Healthy Marriage (Relationship Education) /Responsible Fatherhood Applicant Characteristics Survey (nFORM) During your enrollment for services you completed an Applicant Characteristics survey, which asked questions about your age, race, ethnicity, preferred language, education, employment, financial well-being, current living situation, family status, and health.
2. Responsible Fatherhood Program for Community-Based Fathers Pre-Program Survey and Post-Program Survey (nFORM) If you choose to enroll in the study, the Pre-Program Survey will be completed after signing this consent form. The Post-Program Survey will be completed during the last session of workshops. You will be asked to answer questions about parenting and co-parenting, interaction with your child/ children and spouse/ partner/ baby’s mother, economic stability, relationships/ marriage, and personal development.
3. MER-Fathers Incorporated Participant Pre-Survey, Post-Enrollment Survey, and 1-year Post-Enrollment Survey If you enroll in the evaluation study, the Pre-Survey will be administered during your orientation. The Post-Survey will be administered during your last workshop session. And, approximately one-year after enrollment in the program, you will be asked to answer questions about parenting and family interactions, co-parenting and relationship beliefs and behaviors, financial beliefs, employment beliefs, and case management and program interaction.
The evaluators may stop the Gentle Warriors Academy (GWA) Project evaluation study or take you out of the Project at any time if they determine it is in your best interest. They can do this without your consent. Your part of the GWA Project evaluation study will conclude approximately twelve months after you complete your final core curriculum session.
PAYMENT TO PARTICIPANT
Participants will be eligible for the following incentives upon completion of core curriculum workshop sessions as defined below:
· $50 Walmart gift after the completion of the 12-month follow-up survey.
RISKS
We do not anticipate that the Gentle Warriors Academy will involve any physical or non-physical risks, but there may be risks that we cannot predict.
CONFIDENTIALITY
We respect the confidentiality of the information you share with us and will make every effort to keep it confidential and to protect it from unauthorized disclosure, tampering, or damage. The evaluation team will follow strict rules to protect your privacy as well as all information you share in the service-intake assessments and the evaluation surveys. All individuals who work on GWA evaluation study are trained to protect confidential information and have signed a confidentiality pledge. Any papers that include your name or other identifying information will be kept in a locked area and any computer files with your name will be protected by a password. Your name will never be used in any report written for the GWA. However, please keep in mind that we will have to report to the authorities if you tell any team members about someone being harmed or that you want to harm someone. Also, we may have to give up information about you if a court orders us to do so.
YOUR RIGHTS as a PARTICIPANT
Participation in the GWA evaluation study is voluntary. You have the right not to participate at all or to leave the Project at any time. Deciding not to participate or choosing to leave the GWA will not result in any penalty or loss of benefits to which you are entitled.
CONTACTS for QUESTIONS or PROBLEMS
If you have questions about the GWA Project, any problems, unexpected physical or psychological discomforts, any injuries, or think that something unusual or unexpected is happening you may contact Dr. Matthew Shepherd at phone: (620) 208-6143 or email: Matt.Shepherd@MidwestEvaluation.com or Lila Balla at phone: (314) 827-5452 or email: Lila.Balla@MidwestEvaluation.com. If you have any questions or concerns about your rights as a GWA participant you should contact Solutions IRB (the body that oversees our protection of study participants) at (855) 226-4472 or participants@solutionsirb.com.
CONSENT of PARTICIPANT to PARTICIPATE in the GENTLE WARRIORS ACADEMY PROJECT
By creating your GWA Community username and password, you acknowledge you are giving your permission to take part in the GWA explained above. You are not giving up any legal rights by creating a profile and taking part in the GWA. You may print a copy of this Participation Consent document to keep.
Funding for this project was provided by the Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Grant: # HHS-2020-ACF-OFA-ZJ-1846. These services are available to all eligible persons, regardless of race, gender, age, disability, or religion.
