Boone County Work, Mental Health, and Substance Use Study

The Boone County Research Team is using a random digit dialing method to reach individuals who may be eligible to participate in the study. Random digit dialing methods generate phone numbers at random based on criteria such as geographic location. If you have a telephone number that may be located in Boone County, you may receive calls or texts inviting you to participate; however, participation for this study is voluntary.

The survey will help us understand Boone County residents’ work experiences, the context and availability of work for Boone County residents, and the impact those factors might have on residents’ mental health and substance use. We are also interested in how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted work and health.

If you’d like to know more about the study before you decide whether or not to participate, you can call Dr. Tessa Bonney at 312-355-7311 or email her at tbonne5@uic.edu.

You will be asked to participate in a telephone survey about your current or recent employment, your perceptions of employment in Boone County, and your own mental health and substance use.  Some of these questions will ask for sensitive and personal health information. A member of the UIC research team will read each question and the response options to you, and you will select the response option that is most applicable to you.

Participants will be asked to participate in a 45-to-60-minute telephone survey.

This study is funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is the federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness.

You are eligible to participate in this research study if you:

• Live in Boone County, IL
• Are 18 years or older.
• Speak English OR Spanish
• Are currently employed OR have been employed within the past 24 months.

Being in this research study will not benefit you directly.   We hope that your participation   in the study may benefit other people in the future by helping us learn more about work in Boone County and how work impacts both mental health and substance use among residents.  Understanding these phenomena may help identify interventions to support healthier work and address mental health and substance use in Boone County.

Eligible participants will receive a $25 Amazon gift card.

The primary risks presented by this research study are breaches of privacy (others outside of the study may find out you are a subject) and/or confidentiality (others outside of the study may find out what you did, said, or information that was collected about you during the study). It is also possible that you may experience feelings of psychological   distress from answering questions   about stressful experiences. You may be uncomfortable with some of the questions you may be asked and/or asked to discuss.  This research includes some items about your mental health and substance use/abuse. You can skip and/or not respond to any questions that may make you uncomfortable.

The research team will only collect identifiable contact information from you if you agree to provide it, and your contact information will only be used to contact if you if there are opportunities to participate in future research. Even if you do provide your contact information to the research team, you will have the opportunity to decide not to participate in future research if you are contacted later. Contact information is not considered research data and will be removed from and kept separate from all other information that you provide. At the time of your initial survey, you will be asked whether or not you would like to provide your contact information to the research team in case there are additional opportunities to participate in the study. If you do consent to be contacted in the event that there are additional opportunities to participate, you will be asked to provide your full name, address, telephone number, and date of birth.  A master list of identifiable data (including your name, address, telephone number, and date of birth) will be retained separately from the rest of your responses. A unique ID number will be assigned to your data and only members of the research team will have access to the master list linking your identity to your responses.  If you do not consent to be contacted for future follow-up, we will not collect identifiable information from you and any information that could identify you, including your telephone number that you provided at the time of consent, will be destroyed after you complete the survey. If you do consent to be contacted for future follow-up, your identifiable will be destroyed at the end of 5 years, or by June 30, 2026.

Your identifiable private information collected for this research study may be used for future research studies and/or shared with other researchers for future research.  If this happens, information that could identify you will be removed before any information is shared. Once the identifying information is removed, the information cannot be withdrawn from further use. Please note that identifiable information will only be retained for individuals who consent to be contacted for future follow-up; if you do not agree to be contacted by the research team in the future, the research team will not collect additional information about you (such as your full name, address, telephone number, and date of birth) and the research team will remove and destroy any information that could identify you from study lists and records (such as your telephone number).

If you would like a summary your responses from this study, please email Tessa Bonney, PhD, MPH at tbonne5@uic.edu or leave her a message at 312-355-7311 (if you would like a printed copy mailed to you, please include your postal mail address in the message).

Please check out the ‘Boone County Health Work Initiative Resource Guide” for a list of contacts and resources that may be helpful to Boone County residents who are experiencing challenges related to work, mental health, substance use, and general well-being.

If you need immediate help with stress or with thoughts of self-harm, please call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to reach the 24-hour National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also contact this helpline via online chat at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat/.

You can also reach a free, 24/7, confidential text message service for people in crisis. Text HOME to 741741 in the United States.

If you participate in this study, there may be opportunities to participate in an additional follow-up to this study at a later date. At the time of your original survey, you will be asked whether you consent to be contacted in the future if there are opportunities to participate in a follow-up study. If you do consent to be contacted for future follow-up and the research team is unable to reach you via the contact information that you provide (name, address, telephone number), the research team may use your full name and date of birth to locate your address and telephone number using a LexisNexis Accurint account. If there are opportunities to participate in any follow-up data collection in the future, you will be provided a new consent form and will have the opportunity to decide whether or not you wish to participate at the time of the follow-up.