Recruitment for Research: Seeking Practicing Therapists Who Use the Internet

October 19, 2009

Dear Therapists,

Our names are Keely Kolmes and Dan Taube and we are licensed psychologists who would like to request your participation in our research on the effects of encountering client information on the Internet on practicing therapists. This study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of Alliant International University.

As a participant, you will be asked to complete a brief online survey covering your basic demographic information and your experiences regarding seeking or accidentally discovering client information on the Internet, on both search engines and social networking sites. We expect the survey to take between 15 and 25 minutes to complete.

Your input may help establish better guidelines for managing the effects of data obtained via Internet on the therapeutic relationship. It may help therapists gain more information about working in a world with increasing potential overlap with clients in an online environment.

As no names or personal information will be linked to the study, your participation will be completely anonymous. If you should wish to contact the researchers directly, your participation may become confidential rather than anonymous, although your name will not be linked to any of the data you submit.

To be eligible for the study, you must be: a) a practicing psychotherapist (Ed.D. LCSW, M.Ed. MD, MFT, MSW, Ph.D., Psy.D. or student intern) in any area of counseling, psychology, or psychotherapy who is b) also utilizing the Internet in either your professional or private life.

If you meet the above criteria and are interested in participating in the study, you can access the survey at:

Therapist Survey

If you do not qualify for the study but you know others who might be interested in participating, feel free to forward this url.

Thank you for your interest and participation.

Sincerely,

Keely Kolmes, Psy.D. drkkolmes [at] gmail [dot] com

Daniel Taube, Ph.D., J.D. dtaube [at] alliant [dot] edu