Your Experiences with Psychedelic Substances - Safety and Inclusivity

Description

This project is being undertaken through the University of Southern Queensland. The purpose of this study is to understand people's experiences of using psychedelic substances. Increasingly, psychedelics are being used in a therapeutic context to treat a range of mental health concerns. We are interested in your perspectives on what might make psychedelic therapy more safe and inclusive, based on your own experience using a psychedelic substance. Findings from this study will help to inform the ongoing development and refinement of psychedelic psychotherapy protocols.

We are recruiting anyone who is over 18 and has had at least one experience using a ‘classic’ psychedelic compound. That could include psilocybin (i.e., magic mushrooms), LSD (i.e., acid), DMT (either as Ayahuasca or inhaled DMT), or mescaline (i.e., cactus juice). 

Participation

Your participation will involve completion of an online questionnaire that will take approximately 30 minutes of your time.

Questions will broadly explore your experiences using a classic psychedelic compound and also your perspectives on what you think might make psychedelic assisted psychotherapy more safe and inclusive. Some questions include, 1) what helped you to process / understand the experiences that arose during your psychedelic trip, and 2) describe what aspects of your psychedelic experience you found helpful or therapeutic. Feel free to provide as much or as little detail as you like or skip questions completely if you do not feel comfortable responding. There are no correct answers to the questions we will ask. You will be able to flow back and forth between questions as required to add or edit responses. All data collected is anonymous.

Your participation in this project is entirely voluntary. If you do not wish to take part, you are not obliged to. If you decide to take part and later change your mind, you are free to withdraw from the project at any stage. You will be unable to withdraw data collected about yourself after you have participated in the questionnaire due to the anonymous nature of the data. Your decision whether you take part, do not take part, or take part and then withdraw, will in no way impact your current or future relationship with the University of Southern Queensland or The University of Queensland.

Expected benefits

It is expected that this project will not directly benefit you. However, it may benefit others in the future by helping shape the way psychedelic therapy is designed to be more safe and inclusive for everyone.

Risks

During this survey you will not be asked to disclose any illegal activity, however this may inadvertently arise during participation. We are undertaking a variety of steps to protect your privacy and to not incriminate you in the event of disclosure of illegal activity. Firstly, data collected is anonymous and non-identifiable. In the potential instance that open-ended text provides data that may reveal your identity, we will redact responses to protect your privacy. Secondly, your data will be stored securely and anonymously. As well, the survey tool used to collect your information will not collect your IP address. By consenting to this research, you acknowledge this risk, and the intentional steps we are taking to protect your identity.

Outside of this,  participating in the questionnaire will pose no risk  beyond normal day-to-day living. Sometimes thinking about the sorts of issues raised in the questionnaire can create some uncomfortable or distressing feelings. If you need to talk to someone about this immediately, please contact your support networks, or access a service such as Lifeline: 131114 or Qlife: 1800184527. Attached to this document is a list of support services from around the globe that may be useful in helping you find a suitable service.

Privacy and Confidentiality

All comments and responses are confidential unless required by law. The names of individual persons are not required in any of the responses. Data may be used for future research purposes, however due to the anonymous nature of data collection, all responses are non-identifiable. Participants may contact the Principal Investigator Grace Wang for a 1–2-page summary of the project results in December 2024.

Any data collected as a part of this project will be stored securely, as per University of Southern Queensland’s Research Data and Primary Materials Management Procedure. Data collected will be non-identifiable and accessible only by members of the research team above which includes external researchers from UQ.  

Consent to participate

Clicking on the ‘Submit’ button at the conclusion of the questionnaire is accepted as an indication of your consent to participate in this project.

Questions

Please refer to the Research team contact details at the bottom of the form to have any questions answered or to request further information about this project.

Concerns or complaints

If you have any concerns or complaints about the ethical conduct of the project, you may contact the University of Southern Queensland, Manager of Research Integrity and Ethics on +61 7 4631 1839 or email researchintegrity@usq.edu.au. The Manager of Research Integrity and Ethics is not connected with the research project and can address your concern in an unbiased manner.

Research team contact details

Principal Investigator:
A/Professor Grace Wang
Email: grace.wang@usq.edu.au
Telephone: +61 7 4631 1340

Supervisor / Co-investigator(s):
Professor Amy Mullens
Email: amy.mullens@usq.edu.au

Dr Renee Ireland
Email: renee.ireland@usq.edu.au 

Dr Riccardo Miceli McMillan
Email: r.micelimcmillan@uq.edu.au

Mr James Fowler
Email: james.fowler@uq.edu.au

Dr Samantha Brown
Email: samantha.brown@usq.edu.au

A/Professor Annette Bromdal
Email: annette.bromdal@usq.edu.au

Support resources

Below is a list of services from different places around the world that you might like to contact if you experience any distress during this study.