Challenge, choice, control, and coping:  managing change and maintaining wellbeing in life transitions

About this survey
This survey is part of a project to develop ways to help women cope with stress and transitions in their lives—in particular, the transition to parenting and the stresses and anxieties that come with pregnancy.  We are asking pregnant women, and also women who are not pregnant, but are of childbearing age, to help us by answering questions about their life events, beliefs and preferences about choice and control over life events, levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, social support, and coping strategies.  The whole survey takes about 20-30 minutes to complete, varying a bit depending on how many events you’ve experienced in the last year, and whether or not you are pregnant.

The survey is completely voluntary—you don’t need to answer any or all of the questions, and can stop at any time.  It is also completely anonymous—we will not ask for your name during the survey, and completing the survey will serve as consent, so that you do not need to sign any forms.  If you would like a summary of results, or to enter a draw, or to receive course credit, there will be a chance at the end to request this, but your name will not be associated with any of your survey responses.

We would like to include as many women as possible in this study, to be able to compare the experiences of women during pregnancy with those of women who aren’t currently pregnant.  We would really appreciate it if you would forward the link to the survey to a few of your women friends, so that they can consider being in the study.  You’ll be asked this at the end, but if you want to do it right now, you are welcome to send this link to any of your friends who are between 16 and 50 and might want to participate:  LINK

This study has been reviewed and approved by the University of Waikato School of Psychology Ethics Committee.  If you have any questions or concerns about your rights as a participant in this research study, you can contact the chair of that committee, James McEwen (jmcewen@waikato.ac.nz; 07 838 4466 ext 8295). 

Thank you for considering participating in this project! 

If you have any questions about the study, please feel free to contact me, Carrie Barber (838 4466 ext 6685; ccbarber@waikato.ac.nz). 

If you’d like to complete the survey now, please click here
Start the Survey